Lutyens Delhi: A state of mind

The Government of India, according to a 1913 report, had placed their requirements at 10 square miles for the new city and 15 square miles for the cantonment

What is Lutyens Delhi? Like Khan Market, you could say it is a state of mind, rather than a specific geographical area. If interpreted as a geographical area, there is the vaguer Lutyens Zone and more specific Lutyens Bungalow Zone (LBW), the latter a subset of the former, unless one treats the two expressions as synonymous. If not treated as synonymous, we should go back to 1912. Under the Chairmanship of George S. C. Swinton, a Delhi Town Planning Committee was set up. The other two members were John A. Brodie and Edwin L. Lutyens. The Committee submitted two reports, in 1912 and 1913. The Committee was supposed to choose a site for the new Imperial Capital. From the June 1912 report, “The amount of land required limited the choice of ground. Fifteen square miles was needed by the Military authorities for a Cantonment which was to be placed in proximity to the Imperial City. The needs of the Imperial Capital itself, though not finally decided, had been estimated to cover 10 square miles, and, besides this, land for isolation zones and future development was needed which would vary with the precise location of the new town.”

The Committee examined three sites and recommended what is now LBZ. “It has already been stated that the Military authorities have informally approved of the Naraiana plan on the other side of the Ridge with its wide expanses stretching towards Palam as a good site for a cantonment. The relation of this site to such a cantonment is almost ideal. The access to the Naraiana plain at points near the centre of the site is easy to secure. The cantonment would be near but not too near the Imperial City. Amenities such as clubs, race courses, golf courses, polo, tennis, cricket, football and hockey grounds could be arranged for at a place where they could be made use of jointly by soldiers and civilians throughout the year... The site contains nothing useful or valuable which would have to disappear… Acquisition of land for this site will displace no business centre or manufacturing interests, nor interfere with the legitimate expansion of the present city into areas in which its natural extension is to be anticipated.”  

From the March 1913 report, “The Committee was informed that it was possible that the residence of the Government of India in the future at Delhi might extend to seven months of the year (as opposed to Shimla). The Government of India had placed their requirements, after due enquiry, at 10 square miles for the new city and 15 square miles for the cantonment. It was therefore essential to choose a large site near Delhi with ample room for expansion... The original estimate of an area of 10 square miles was arrived at in the following manner. Lists were supplied by the Government of India of the number of officers, clerks and menials who would be located in the New Capital. Units of area were approved by the same body for the space for compounds. The decision of the Government was communicated as to the allowance to be made for Government House, the secretariats, residences for Ruling Chiefs, Indian nobility, gentry and plutocracy, commercial and educational requirements, administrative and municipal buildings. The total of these areas after allowance had been made for parks, expansion and roads came to 10 square miles... The areas fixed by the Orders in Council, dated 21st June 1912, which were communicated to the Committee, were compounds varying in size from six acres for a Member of Council to 3 acres for an Under Secretary or junior officer. After consultation with various officers the Committee tentatively cut down the size of these compounds to a standard varying from 3 acres for the former to 2 ½  acres for the latter. Another important change was made in the method of computation. Originally it was assumed that an official residence would be provided for every official. In working out a reduced scale of area however the Committee assumed that 1/3 of the officials of the secretary class would live in hotels or flats and that 1/2 of the Deputy Secretary and Under Secretary class would be similarly accommodated and would not require residences.”  

The final report was also submitted in March 1913 and said, “The committee esteem it as very fortunate that they have been in personal contact with most of the individual members of the newly appointed committee who will carry out the actual task of constructing Imperial Delhi; that one of their own members will work out in stone what for a year they have discussed on paper; and that so many of the officers, who have been associated with them, are re-engaged.”  This member was Edwin Landseer Lutyens and thus the origins of LBZ, “inaugurated” in 1932.

The author is chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister

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