Unkempt lawns, graffiti scrawled on the Coronation Pillar and panel walls, and garbage littered all around the iconic park where the 'imperial capital of New Delhi' was born lay in shambles on its 107th anniversary on Wednesday.
King George V and Queen Mary were coronated as the emperor and the empress of India on December 12, 1911 at a spectacular Delhi Durbar, where the British monarch had also announced the shifting of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi.
As the sun played hide and seek, decaying marble statues of George V, with his nose chipped off, and four noted viceroys stonily looking on, a group of local youth played cricket, ironically a colonial legacy, near the Coronation Pillar in the park.
Locals oblivious to the history attached to the place, let alone the day (107th anniversary of New Delhi), wandered about in the park strewn with litter, while graffiti scrawled up on the monumental obelisk that commemorates the Coronation Durbar and the walls of panels only added to the overwhelming irony.
Pakistan-born Ramesh Kumar, who migrated to India after partition, laments the "apathy of the authorities" and the "indifference of the youth" towards preservation of the country's legacy.
"This is where New Delhi was born on this day. How many of these people who have come to the park would know this. A new capital, after being shifted from Calcutta, was to be built here originally, but due to the area being low-lying and prone to water stagnation, the site was shifted," he said.
The 72-year-old, who lives in the vicinity of the park, pointed to the face of King George, and said, "Some years back, some people even chipped off his nose".
As he rested in the park behind the regal statue's pedestal, graffiti scribbled on the walls stood out glaringly.
"Look, the county is talking about 'Swachh Bharat' and many people have written 'Swachh Bharat' messages on the walls, spoiling the look. Only the government cannot bring change, people need to change their behaviours too," Kumar told PTI.
Tushar, another local and a Class 9 student, pointed at the defaced panel walls facing the four statues. While information panels are yet to be installed, as was planned under a redevelopment project, graffiti and overgrown vegetation have taken over these surfaces.
In front of Lord Hardinge's statue, installed on a raised pedestal, a wall, ironically has these words scribbled on it -- "Jan Jan ka ab yahi hay sapna, Swachh ho Bharat desh apna" -- while Mahatma Gandhi's spectacles, loop the two words - "Swachh" and "Bharat". Other panels too bear such graffiti.
"We are taught about 'Swachh Bharat', but I don't think this is cleanliness. People have spoiled the pedestals, the walls, and garbage is littered in the park, grass all singed, lawns not maintained. This is opposite of what the campaign teaches us," he said.
The Coronation Pillar -- a monumental obelisk that commemorates the Coronation Durbar -- also wears a defaced look, as many couples have scribbled their names and drawn heart signs on it, big and small.
The pillar lies forlorn in the historic ground where the Durbar was held, and is now a part of the Coronation Park, located in the Burari area near Kingsway Camp, so named as the camp for the regal Durbar was located here in 1911.
The heritage site falling under the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) saw decades of neglect until it was taken up by the Sheila Dikshit regime to be redeveloped, and work was to be completed by 2011 to coincide with New Delhi's 100th anniversary.
But the DDA, after missing several deadlines since then, has only managed to landscape the area, even though the grass has lost its sheen, while the history walls erected in front of the statues of the four viceroys, lie neglected, incomplete and defaced.
A senior DDA official, when contacted, said, "I am not aware of the status of the redevelopment project." The official, however, declined to comment on the defacement carried out in the park premises.
The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) was chosen by the DDA as a consultant for the ambitious project.
INTACH Delhi chapter convener Swapna Liddle said, "There is no forward movement on the project from the DDA side."
"And any place that lies in such a condition, ends up being subjected to defacement. It of course means, we need to impart more eduction to our youth, who think by scrawling their names on public structures, they are achieving something,"
"It is the birthplace of New Delhi. We all should celebrate it for that reason alone,"
the official said.
Historian and author Swapna Liddle says perhaps one of the reasons such British-era landmarks have not received the due attention, is because "many people think colonial history should not be promoted".
"On this very ground, two other Delhi Durbars were held, the first in 1877 and the second one in 1903, both being also filled with grandeur and splendour, the royal tents and the other paraphernalia.
"The Durbars also celebrated art, craftsmanship, photography and films. The 'Interpretation Centre' can tell a fascinating tale," she said.
The statues tell their own tale of decay over decades. King George V in gleaming marble, once adorned the canopy opposite the India Gate, but was dumped at this site post the 1960s. Other statue were shifted later from different public places.
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