Why Delhi's Alaknanda is right to oppose a mall in its backyard

The uproar by residents against the construction of a giant mall in an up-market residential neighbourhood in Delhi represents perhaps the first rumblings in urban India against the mall phenomenon that has taken over Indian metros.

Citizens Alliance, a vocal and determined network of residents from Alaknanda, Greater Kailash II and C R Park, which was formed earlier this year, is probably the first such organised urban upper-middle-class protest. The Alliance is opposing the construction of a mall by Reliance Industries’ Group company on a 3.7 acre land located in the middle of a residential neighbourhood in Alaknanda.

According to residents, the land was reserved for a sports complex. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA), which sold the land in an auction to Reliance Industries in 2007 for Rs 304 crore, has refuted the claim by residents and denied any wrongdoing.

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[caption id=“attachment_1029613” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Citizens Alliance, a vocal and determined network of residents from Alaknanda, Greater Kailash II and C R Park, which was formed earlier this year, is probably the first such organised urban upper-middle-class protest. Photo by Naresh Sharma/Firstpost[/caption]

The proposed mall’s far-reaching impact on traffic in the already congested roads of Alaknanda, GK II and C R Park, its law and order ramifications, its proximity to schools (land allocated to the mall shares one of its boundaries with a school) and its impact on public infrastructure in the area are among the key concerns the Citizens Alliance has raised in its ‘Stop the Mall’ campaign.

The Alliance’s first public rally last month attracted over 1000 people - an indication of the level of public support the campaign enjoys.

But is there an inherent double-standard when residents of an up-market neighbourhood who shop in malls oppose the construction of mall when it is proposed in their colony?

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Says Ashutosh Dikshit,president of the Alliance, “That is a very specious argument to make. If I am a consumer of power, does that mean there should be a power plant next to me? By that logic, why not have an airport next door or maybe even a nuclear power plant?”

He adds, “The purpose of our lives is not just to shop, it is also to get to work, to have access to emergency services, to be able to entertain ourselves, to have a quiet and peaceful life - our only purpose is not to hang around in a malls.”

Citing models followed in the West, Dikshit says, “Even in the US, from where the mall culture comes, any mall that comes up has to have a traffic analysis under certain guidelines up to three miles, that is, five kilometres. In America, malls are located 5-7 km away from residences. They are not located in the centre of a community.”

Eminent architect and former advisor of the Delhi Urban Art Commission Ranjit Sabikhi says the proposed mall in Alaknanda is a case of bad planning which ignores an existing environment.

A resident of GK-II and member of the Alliance, Sabikhi adds, “Whether the residents also use the malls is not the question, the disturbance caused by all these other factors is far more serious.”

Dikshit explains why the case of a mall coming up say, for instance, in Dwarka, an emerging and fast developing sub-city in south-west Delhi, is different from the one being proposed in Alaknanda.

“When a city is planned, it is not planned haphazardly. Dwarka, for instance, has multi-storeyed cooperative housing societies. There are wide roads out there. The mall is part of the original design of the place. Therefore, the entire area is built-up in accordance with that plan - the traffic levels, the parking necessary have been assessed. The entire layout of Dwarka is based on that total picture.”

In Alaknanda, when the original colonies were allotted there was no concept of a mall because the houses, width of roads, proximity to schools, the local shopping centres were not designed for that. “You cannot change the layout of this area in isolation. You can’t put a mall here and then say the roads will remain the same, the sewage system will remain the same,” says Dikshit.

Raising the issue of the traffic assessment report and how an updated report was not sought when the size of the mall was increased by the DDA, Sabikhi says, “What they (DDA) didn’t do correctly is that they first proposed a shopping mall with a lower FAR (Floor Area Ratio) and sought a traffic study on the basis of that. And that traffic study seemed to suggest that things could work. Later on, however, they (DDA) increased the size of the mall by increasing the FAR but they did not do a revised traffic study. We got in touch with the same traffic consultant (Engineering and Planning Consultants) who had done the original study and we asked them take another look. They came up with a reply and said that the original study was no longer valid. And a new study needed to be done.”

The consulting firm, in its response (dated July 16) to a letter by Alliance on the ’re-evaluation of traffic assessment of 2006’, wrote, “We now understand that the mix of activities and density of development have been changed to accommodate a Mega-Mall and high-end commercial offices. Following this change in magnitude (increase in FAR) and mix of development (proportion of retail trade etc), substantial changes in footfalls, traffic generation and parking demand are to be expected…To sum up it is suggested that you may please engage a professional or an institution to conduct modified transport impact assessment considering the changed traffic, transport and development scenario as a consequence of modifications in Master Plan of Delhi-2021.”

This ‘substantial change’ in footfalls, traffic generation and parking demand and its impact on the neighbour could make all the difference to whether the project survives or fails.

“In Delhi, the shopping malls that have been successful are those that have come up in Vasant Kunj because they have substantial open spaces around it for parking, traffic, movement and so on. And they have not disturbed the surrounding residential communities. They are sufficiently far from the residential areas,” says Sabikhi.

Dikshit makes the point that in the past when malls came up in residential areas, they were located in district centres as in the case of Saket’s Select Citiywalk.

“Saket is also a residential area. But the question is where in a residential area is the mall located. Can you construct a mall in the middle of houses and no major roads approach roads? Saket’s Select Citywalk mall is located on a main road. Besides, there is a metro nearby. We, on the other hand, don’t have a metro. There is no main road like the one on which Select Citywalk is located. How can you build a mall on a colony road?” says Dikshit.

Explaining the concept of district centres and why malls are typically located in large commercial spaces, Dikshit says, “The district centres are large commercial areas that were part of the original master plan. A district centre is about 40 hectares in size. A community centre is one-tenth that size. And this particular plot (where the mall is proposed) is not even 4 hectares.”

He adds, “Even though Select Citywalk is located in district centre it has wreaked havoc on the lives of people who live in Saket. At the Alliance’s last meeting, we had a resident from Saket who told us how their lives have been destroyed by the malls. They can’t get to work on time, they are perpetual traffic jams. The pollution has gone up.”