Charles Correa in Delhi. Telegraph picture

New Delhi, Feb. 20: The capital’s last defence against unplanned development has collapsed with all members of the Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAC) resigning over alleged differences with the government on plans for the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

The commission, headed by renowned architect Charles Correa, had become a nightmare for the Delhi government for standing up against the “harebrained” projects supposedly associated with the games.

The Delhi government is running behind schedule in building infrastructure for the games. The site of the games village has been caught up in litigation as environmentalists have opposed it for flouting norms.

Keen to pass the buck, the government has blamed the commission for holding up the projects, a member said.

“It is unfortunate that projects are just being tagged on for the Commonwealth Games,” said Mohammad Shaheer, a DUAC member. “Development agencies just conjure up projects and set in motion activity which may or may not have any genesis in reality.”

Situated across the Yamuna — far away from the stadia — the games village was to be connected to the heart of the city by a tunnel road. The road, slated to cost over Rs 900 crore, has been criticised by environmentalists and town planners.

Unesco had written to the Archaeological Survey of India, threatening to put Humayun’s Tomb on the World Heritage Site danger list if the project went through.

The tunnel road, said to be Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit’s brainchild, was rejected seven times by the urban commission on fears that it would have a disastrous impact on Humayun’s Tomb, the zoo and the Lutyens’s Bungalow Zone.

Urban development minister Jaipal Reddy, in his earlier avatar as culture minister, had opposed the construction of the road.

The tunnel road was supposed to lead 15,000 cars per hour into the heart of the city without any plan for traffic.

“What is maddening is the complete lack of interest of the government in the city,” rued Correa.

“We are resigning to bring up the issue of the independence of the DUAC. The government must decide whether they want the DUAC to just facilitate government projects or they want someone to look at the overview of the city responsibly.”

Apart from the tunnel pathway, the East-West Corridor — a 15-metre-high elevated road to connect the games village to the centre of the city — was also sent back to the government for lack of vision.

The urban development ministry had decided to issue a circular to appoint new members — a whole month before the term of the commission was to expire. The circular had also reduced the age limit of the members to below 65. Correa is 76.

Sources in the ministry claimed that inviting applications before the DUAC term expired was purely a routine matter.

The commission was created by an act of Parliament in 1973 to “advise” the government on developing and maintaining the aesthetic quality of urban and environmental design within the city.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had handpicked these members to ensure that the commission is not reduced to a rubber stamp like it had been when the National Democratic Alliance was in power.

But its members claimed that they have been victimised for sticking to their brief.

“Our biggest fear is that now we have resigned, these projects will be cleared by the government through the urban development ministry,” a member said.