If Akbar Road in Lutyens’ Delhi does end up getting renamed after Maharana Pratap, as some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders want, it will be a huge upgrade for the legacy of the Rajput ruler. That’s because Delhi already has a Maharana Pratap Road.
However, you would have to travel to a dingy, winding lane in Karol Bagh to find it.
In fact, Maharana Pratap Road wasn’t always a road but a drain that was covered sometime in the late 1960s to early 1970s.
While several leaders of the BJP, including Union Minister of State for External Affairs General V.K. Singh, have raised demands for the renaming of Akbar Road, most of those who live and work on Karol Bagh’s Maharana Pratap Road weren’t even aware of the road’s name when The Hindu visited on Thursday.
On one side of the road is the Maharana Pratap Market, where small auto mechanic shops pour out onto the street, while on the other lies the back of houses on Ramjas Road that have been converted into shops.
So where maps by Google as well as Eicher show Maharana Pratap Road, connecting Deshbandhu Gupta Road and New Rohtak Road, is the Maharana Pratap Market with green-coloured coolant spills on the ground and a heavy stench of petrol in the air.
Conversion charges
Gulshan Sahni, who owns an automobile parts shop on the Ramjas Road side, said the Municipal Corporation of Delhi had covered the drain under what is Maharana Pratap Road today between 1968 and 1970. “This was done when the market was set up. But, the name of the road was only given when the Municipal Corporation wanted to collect conversion charges from us,” said Mr. Sahni, referring to the charges for converting a residential property for commercial use.
Mixed land-use status
For that, the road had to be declared as having mixed land-use. As per a notification by the Delhi Government’s Urban Development Department on September 15, 2006, an 18 metre-wide road connecting Deshbandhu Gupta Road and New Rohtak Road was given mixed land-use status. It was called Maharana Pratap Market Road.
However, as per some records with the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, including a proposed redevelopment plan uploaded on its website, the road has been referred to as Maharana Pratap Road. The local councillor, BJP’s Ravinder Gupta, said though there was no signage, the road was developed “about 50 years ago” when a storm water drain was covered.
“It was not just this road, but several parks were also developed on the drain,” said Mr. Gupta, who also is the former Mayor of the North Corporation.
Naale waali market
Back on the road, the controversy surrounding Akbar Road seems a continent away. For workers, it is the naale waali (drain) market; for visitors getting their cars repaired, it is Maharana Pratap Market; and for the postman, it is a head-scratcher. So where does a letter addressed to Maharana Pratap Road end up?
