New Delhi roads to wear old colours

CIVIC BODY DECIDES TO REPAINT KERBS IN TRADITIONAL HUES AFTER EXPERIMENT

Roads in the capital zone of New Delhi will soon wear the traditional look again after a faulty experiment bordering sycophancy. The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has agreed to repaint kerbs, pavements and roundabouts in the traditional yellow and black colours.

NDMC traces its origins to the Imperial Delhi Committee set up by colonial British rulers to oversee development of New Delhi as the new Indian capital in 1913.

It is the smallest of the five civic bodies of the national capital and probably India’s richest civic body due to its surplus budget and massive revenue inflows from several business districts in its 43.7 sq km area. The national capital zone comes under the NDMC jurisdiction.

NDMC had taken a curious decision to paint kerbs and roundabouts in pink and green in October last year.

The civic body defended it by saying they wanted aesthetic looks under which green symbolised eco friendly approach and pink represented the rich heritage of the city. The pink, however, was the darkest shade of the colour bordering on what looks like saffron. Many felt then that it was sycophancy at its best with the NDMC honchos purposely opting for these unusual colours to paint the town in colours representing India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which uses saffron and green as its colours.

Objections

The NDMC had paid no heed to objections raised by several NGOs connected with road safety and Delhi Traffic Police which said, unlike the conventional yellow and black strips, which reflect in dark, the pink and green strips could lead to an increase in road accidents.

Muktesh Chander, special commissioner (traffic) of Delhi Police, wrote a letter to the new NDMC chairman Naresh Kumar on Sunday, expressing his grave concerns.

NDMC at its meeting on Monday decided to form a committee to look into the objections and suggestions given in this regard.

“The council in principle agreed to revert to the conventional yellow and black or white and black colours,” said an MDMC official.