Capital Mascara : Has The City Lost Its Priorities In The Rush For Cosmetic Nirvana?

In typical realtor-speak, it's being advertised as "the finest address in the heart of Delhi", and the Commonwealth Games Village is, truly, the stuff of real estate fantasies. Walk through its well-secured gates, and find yourself amid swathes of green, dotted with a swimming pool, a health club, tennis courts and, of course, 34 towers containing 1,168 flats that reek of 5-star comfort. Their decor may be minimalist, but the tone is one of overwhelming opulence.

Built in partnership between the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and developers Emaar MGF, the Village will give 8,000 international Commonwealth athletes the chance of living India's gated community dream. But outside the gates, the voices of protest aren't dying down; indeed, the critics are multiplying in number. For them, this plush "village" is not a dream world but a nightmare; the controversy around it a mirror of the larger public debate around the CWG itself.

Environmentalists believe Delhi will live to regret constructing these massive buildings on the banks of the Yamuna. They predict that the village will hamper the flow of groundwater that replenishes the seasonal river, effectively choking it. Despite a July 2009 Supreme Court verdict authorising the construction of these apartments, critics remain unconvinced. "It is almost suicide, but we are going through with it," says architect, urban planner and conservation consultant A.G.K. Menon. Even a cabinet minister confessed to Outlook, off the record: "Nobody can explain the justification for building the CWG Village on the banks of the Yamuna. Nor can I understand the logic of having the games somewhere else, and the village across a river."

Environmental concerns apart, some critics are also saddened by the contrast between the Asian Games in 1982, for which architects were selected on the basis of democratic competitions, and the Commonwealth Games, where no time was wasted for democracy. Raj Rewal, who won the competition to design the Asian Games Village near Delhi's Siri Fort Complex, says, "Now you have a case of architecturally illiterate promoters bringing in professionals who are far from being the world's leading architects. India's younger group of brilliant planners and architects have lost out as a consequence."