The members of the Siri Fort Sports Complex staged a candlelight vigil, Friday 13 evening, in a show of their opposition to DDA’s break-and-rebuild activities on the plea of preparation for the Commonwealth Games. All of them – a few hundred – sported T-shirts with the message “Save Siri Fort”. They stood peacefully outside the main gate of the complex and then walked in a procession down the road and back, ending up inside. DDA is bent upon redesigning the existing facilities for badminiton, squash, tennis and swimming when only a little renovation is sufficient.
Mr M.L.Lahoty, a senior advocate, explained that DDA was planning a whopping Rs 44 crores on renovation of facilities in the name of the Commonwealth Games although those were not needed for the games. He alleged that DDA was even ignoring requests for disclosure of what its exact plans. Mr Lahoty has already raised questions before the Supreme Court about the propriety of DDA’s reconstruction plans. The next date for the hearing of this case is March 27.
Gautam Bhatia, a well known architect, explained that much good sense was required for planning any big change in the sports complex and its environs including heritage sites. Furthermore these changes should be carried out after consultations with players.
A signature campaign last year succeeded in foiling an earlier attempt by DDA to close down the entire complex for nearly two years from January 2009 and push through undisclosed plan for unnecessary rebuilding of the complex at a huge cost. Lt-Governor Tejendra Khanna took note of the strong feelings of the users of the complex and ordered only those facilities to be closed which might really need renovation.
