India, July 2 -- New Delhi

With garbage strewn all around, rickshaws crowding pavements and uninviting paan-stained street furniture, the main Chandni Chowk Avenue Road between the Red Fort and Fatehpuri mosque is in a shambles, despite it being revamped for Rs.99 crore as a model of urban rejuvenation as recently as September 2021.

The stretch, a non-motorised and pedestrian-friendly space on paper, was serving as an illegal parking zone, HT found during a spot check on Tuesday.

Traders and residents' groups urgently sought the intervention of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

Sixty-eight-year-old Sanjay Bhargava, the president of the Chandni Chowk Sarv Vyapar Mandal, said: "The situation is alarming; it has become a pathe...