The New Delhi Bungalows in Danger

‘Lutyens Bungalows must go’ was the headline in several Indian Newspapers in May this year. Ram Jethmalani, the Urban Affairs and Employment Minister had announced: ‘The Lutyens Bungalow Zone is a low density area…..it has excellent infrastructure to take additional load…therefore the existing bungalows should be demolished and converted into high rises.’ A few newspapers pointed out that New Delhi would lose its green lung and anyway the high rises would be homes for the rich not for the 1 ½ million New Delhi poor, but most agreed with him. A three man committee was appointed to make a report; its members included Patwant Singh, who met the trustees of the Lutyens Trust when he was in London in July. He is well aware that ‘Lutyens Delhi’ is an internationally important site. The Lutyens Trust is in close touch with Professor Mansinh Rana, our Patron in New Delhi and we are taking advice from him on how we can best monitor and influence events from the aesthetic point of view.