Construction of New Delhi

See also: Lutyens' Delhi

The construction of New Delhi refers to the development of Delhi into the capital of the British Raj, and creation of New Delhi in a mass-scale real estate development project before the Independence of India.^[1][2][3] Before the project, Delhi was known of as a large slum due to the unplanned settlements of Old Delhi or Shahjahanabad.^[1] The British proposed the project after the Delhi Durbar in 1911, although due to World War I, it was delayed by around ten years till the 1920s. The New Delhi Project continued till the 1940s.^[4]

Originally King George V and Queen Mary announced the project, although it did receive major opposition from the European business community of Calcutta, along with Lord Curzon and Mahatma Gandhi.^[3] The project was fulfilled by architects Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker.^[5][6]

2019 master plan of the Central Vista of New Delhi, illustrating road and building layout^[7]

Architecture, planning and early development

Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker were selected to design the area in a traditional Indian fashion.^[2] The architects decided that the area where the foundation stones of Delhi were planted, Coronation Park, was an unsuitable area.^[8] They decided the village Malcha on Raisina Hill, as it had a ridge which could quarry stone.^[9] Lutyens and Baker toured the country trying to find the key to Indian architecture. They visited Hindu temples, Buddhist stupas, the Taj Mahal, and palaces in Bikaner and Mandi.^[2] They came back disappointed and convinced that there was no "Indian style of architecture" and only mushrooming dynasties who built large buildings.^[2] They noted that the Indians of old knew how to build grand forts, palaces, mausoleums, tombs and durbar halls but not panchayat houses, legislative assembly buildings, or buildings for commoners.^[10][1]

The duo decided that they would give the buildings a façade of "Indianness", which would include the sunbreaker (chhajja), latticed window (jali) and dome (chhattri), while the rest of the architecture would be almost entirely British in nature.^[2] They elected to use stone used by the Mughals from the Vindhya Range, marble from Makrana and Jaipur and both stone and marble from Dholpur.^[3] The original Viceregal Lodge was meant to be made in white marble, and Lutyens had wanted the garden to be an English landscape garden rather than a Mughal garden.^[11]

Lutyens had made a grand plan for New Delhi, much larger than what had happened. His original plan was to dam the Yamuna behind Humayun's Tomb, create a huge lake and a riverside boulevard around it and enclose the Purana Qila in a reflecting pool.^[2] Along with this he wished for the Kingsway to be built from the Viceregal Lodge through India Gate up to the Purana Qila and for another road to be built from the South Block up to the south entrance of the Jama Mosque, Delhi.^[2] All these ideas had to be abandoned, the former two because of costs and the latter because the road would have gone through Gurdwara Rakab Ganj and the Sikhs under Sardul Singh Kavishar were already in opposition.^[12] The Viceroy became peevish due to the costs of Lutyens' plans, to which Lutyens wrote, "the Viceroy thinks only of the next three years, I am thinking of the next three hundred years."^[13]

Originally Lutyens wanted to use the gridiron pattern of city planning as was used in other cities like New York, but the hexagonal pattern was later preferred as it could break up the dust storms that swept the landscape; for that same reason, they included many roundabouts and hedges.^[13] Lutyens and Baker were mainly inspired by other capitals like Washington, Canberra and Pretoria.^[13] There were three other sites which Lutyens and Baker had selected, east of the Yamuna, north of Shahjahanabad and west of Malcha Mahal.^[13] From 1914 to 1926 a temporary capital was built and occupied north of Old Delhi, including the Delhi Assembly Building.^[13] While Baker and Lutyens were designing the larger buildings, the connection between New Delhi and Old Delhi was designed by Robert Tor Russell, and named Connaught Place.^[13]

The Viceroy, Lutyens and Baker were all in agreement on one idea, that India was going to be independent and they were making the city as the building blocks for the independent India.^[2] Although Lutyens and Baker did have disagreements, Lutyens wanted the Viceregal Lodge to be on a higher level than the civil servants' offices, whereas Baker thought that in an independent democratic India the ruler and servants should be on the same level.^[2] The King and Viceroy approved of Baker's idea.^[2] Another time Lutyens wanted the slope between the Viceregal Lodge and the two secretariats to be at a steeper angle, whereas Baker believed that a gentle incline would be better as it did not matter whether or not a pedestrian could see the lodge.^[2] Once again Lutyens was overruled.^[2] The duo were not on speaking terms anymore, although New Delhi continued to be built.^[2]

During the early stages of modern Delhi's development after the Delhi Durbar, Sujan Singh and Sunder Singh Dhupia were the new capital's main real estate developers, although their work was stopped due to World War I.^[14] The foundation stones of Delhi were shifted from the Coronation Park to Raisina Hill by Sobha Singh, the son of Sujan Singh.^[2]

Construction

Labour

The labour included mainly the Bagaris of Rajputana. A number of them were known as Sangtarash—descendants of the people who built great Indian monuments such as the Red Fort, Old Fort, Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri and others.^[15] There were also the Bandhanis of Punjab who were hired for their ability to carry larger loads. In total there were 30,000 workers at the height of construction, all working under a Scotsman named Cairn.^[16] Men were paid eight annas a day whereas women were paid six annas a day.^[16] The contractors were almost all Sikhs, with the demographic makeup being 26 Sikhs, 3 Punjabi Muslims and 1 Sindhi Hindu.^[17]

After World War I had been put to an end, the British once again started concentrating on the development projects in Delhi.^[18] The project was mainly done under five Sikhs (known locally as the Panj Pyare of Delhi) who were Sir Sobha Singh, Dharam Singh Sethi, Baisakha Singh, Narain Singh and Ram Singh Kabli. By 1929 all major buildings had been completed. Although there was opposition, many called it (specifically the Viceregal Lodge) a "British matron in a fancy dress."^[19]

Construction work

Material

Dharam Singh Sethi had a monopoly on the marble and stone trade in North India. He transported the materials from Dholpur, Rajasthan.^[20] His house later became the office for the All India Congress Committee.^[20] Ram Singh Kabli had a monopoly over pottery and clay supplies and thus contributed some of them to almost all houses created in the project, including design and furniture.^[20] Sir Teja Singh Malik was the chief engineer who received a knighthood for helping in the construction of Delhi by supplying timber. He also heavily assisted Lutyens and Baker in their designs.^[21][22]

Labour

Sir Sobha Singh had been given the role of chief contractor by the British, and had also become a subordinate architect. He was also involved in increasing commerce in Delhi, which at the time did not have any major markets. He was the driving force behind Connaught Place, his brainchild to make Delhi an economic hub. He had finalized the contracts for Janpath, Connaught Place, the Viceregal Lodge, Sujan Singh Park, the Regal Building, Jaipur Column and many houses in the Lutyens Bungalow Zone including Scindia House, Kochin House, Baroda House and others. He owned around half of Connaught Place at the time, becoming known in Delhi's folklore as "Adhi Dilli ka Malik", the God of Half of Delhi.^{[citation needed]}

Narain Singh (originally a peasant whose father was rumored to have been a dacoit) oversaw most of the road development for the new city and laid the foundation for the Parliament House.^[23] The Imperial Hotel was built by him; it housed many meetings between Nehru, Gandhi, Jinnah and Mountbatten when they were finalizing the Partition of India.^[24] His son Ranjit Singh, who earned money off his sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh, also helped.^[24]

Baisakha Singh constructed various official residencies, including the Jinnah House and North Block of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He also supplied cement for roads and food supplies for the laborers.^[25] Sewa Singh continued the development of Delhi but also of neighboring zones. The Karol Bagh land auction was organized by him.^[26] Manohar Singh, father of Patwant Singh, was put in charge of supervising the North Block. Lachhman Singh Gill, who later became the Chief Minister of Punjab, constructed large tracts in East Delhi, which was originally barely inhabited in 1937 and would not be densely populated till 20 years later.^[27]

Lacchman Das and Seth Haroun Al-Rashid, both Sindhis, constructed the Government House and the exterior of the North Block.^[28] Akbar Ali from Jhelum and Nawab Ali of Rohtak, both Punjabi Muslims, laid the foundation of the National Archives and Mughal Gardens, respectfully.^[28]

Plantation

As soon as Lutyens had marked the roads, his team got William Robertson Mustoe, the man in charge of Kew Gardens, to set up a huge nursery.^[29] It is next to Humayun’s tomb.^[29] He had 500 varieties of trees, Australian, East African and indigenous, shipped to Delhi while the roads were being laid. Along Rajpath, jamun trees were planted. Sausage trees, gum trees and African tulip trees from East Africa were planted in other areas.^[30] Sir Sobha Singh had once stated that those, "slow growing trees would provide shade to our great-great-great grandsons and their grandsons."^[30] Queen Victoria had once before come and cut down all the gum trees and replaced them with cypress trees, but after Lutyens' protest the damage was undone.^[31]

The Delhi Ridge had been planted with North Indian rosewood, Madras thorn, Indian siris, Australian eucalyptus and Mexican mesquite.^[32]

Aftermath

The construction of New Delhi was one of the first times the British Raj started giving high positions to Indians instead of Englishmen.^[31] Sir Teja Singh Malik was made the first Indian head of the Central Public Works Department and Sir Sobha Singh was made the first Indian to head the New Delhi Municipal Council.^[33]

Uttam Singh Duggal, an aristocratic Partition refugee, held a monopoly over construction work and real estate in Delhi. In the late 20th century he and his company built Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.^[34] Mohan Singh (known as Mohan Singh Coca-Cola) constructed the Embassy of the United States, New Delhi, Friends' Colony and Mohan Singh Place.^[35]

By the 2000s, development shifted to areas around the Delhi Union Territory such as Gurgaon, Haryana and Noida, Uttar Pradesh, under companies such as the Wave Group and DLF. These sister cities would remove industry and jobs from Delhi to their cities instead.^{[citation needed]}