Saving Chandigarh, a gaggle comprising a number of residents of Chandigarh working in direction of its safety and preservation, organised a march on Friday close to the excessive court docket parking to avoid wasting Chandigarh’s iconic id, Nek Chand’s Rock Backyard.
Final week, bulldozers broken a big part of the wall in Part 3 and minimize down lots of of bushes for a road-widening undertaking to facilitate the growth of the parking on the Punjab and Haryana Excessive Courtroom. Since then, a number of residents have questioned the orders for this transfer. Destroying this pure heritage to create industrial properties isn’t just an environmental loss however a failure of accountable administration mirrored by the core committee members of the group, Deepika Gandhi, R Ok Garg, Paveela Bali, Amrita Singh, Samita Kaur, Amandeep Singh, and Priyanka Saini.
As a part of the march residents shared issues in regards to the risks of clearing pure sources and the way a accountable strategy calls for that growth and conservation coexist. Satinder Singh Randhawa, an advocate and grandson of Dr M S Randhawa, the good horticulturist who chosen and designed every avenue of bushes of Chandigarh stated that the demolition of a part of the Rock Backyard appears to be an ill-thought thought with none concrete plan to cut back the visitors chaos across the excessive court docket. There are significantly better options to handle the visitors state of affairs.
Thespian Neelam Mansingh Chowdhry stated that to accommodate a parking house, a heritage wall was demolished, and it’s “unbelievable {that a} extra imaginative answer was not discovered to the parking woes”. “My relationship with Rock Backyard and Nek Chand has an extended historical past. The superbly designed amphitheatre was the house the place I carried out all my exhibits. I noticed the Rock Backyard as an extension of my residence and Nek Chand had the generosity to let me imagine this fantasy. We as residents of town have to cease this travesty,” she stated.
Anuj Saini, Nek Chand’s son, stated that the Engineering Division has stated that this wall was by no means part of the Rock Backyard, however this declare is totally baseless. “How can a wall, constructed 30-40 years in the past underneath the supervision of my father, Nek Chand, not be thought-about part of the Rock Backyard? The one motive he couldn’t full this wall throughout his lifetime was that he had larger plans for this house — plans that he shared with me,” added Saini.
Till the undertaking may start, Nek Chand had collected a major quantity of waste materials right here, fastidiously preserving it for the long run. He knew that if any a part of his creation ever broke, it may very well be restored utilizing these supplies, his son claimed. A lot of this stuff at the moment are not possible to search out, as factories have stopped producing them.
“That materials wasn’t simply particles — it was a treasure trove. I’m shocked why there was such an pressing want to usher in JCB machines in a single day and tear down the wall in such a rushed and secretive method,” he requested.
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Rajnish Wattas, former principal of the Chandigarh School of Structure, and member of the Chandigarh Heritage Committee stated your complete incident must be checked out from a bigger perspective. In Corbusier’s Grasp Plan, from the Rajendra Backyard to the lake is the Capitol Park, an entire inexperienced space, he stated.
“The acquire of this complete train of making parking may be very little, possibly solely 20 seconds of acquire. We have to think about the basics on which this metropolis was made. The town, together with these in energy, might want to resolve if we wish to stay by the rules of the grasp plan and protect one oasis of excellence in a sea of chaotic urbanisation. Can we cherish or dilute it? These are alerts of an attitudinal disaster, and it’s straightforward to justify any resolution when you may monetise it. City mobility is a matter, and we’re solely shopping for time, and the necessity is to have a look at this one instance of city excellence with pleasure. Like in lots of cities the world over, discover options, golf carts, minibuses, and shuttle providers to offer the general public ease. If not right this moment, a number of years later, we must. Within the formal grid system, Nek Chand’s Backyard is an fascinating counterpart,” added Wattas.
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