NEW DELHI: Newly-appointed Delhi Urban Art Commission head Prof P S N Rao has a lot to live up to. The arts body has often come under flak for stalling infrastructure projects and rejecting plans citing aesthetic reasons. The new chairperson, however, says he plans to change this perception of DUAC. He promises to ensure all proposals are cleared in minimum time.
Rao, an urban planner, is chief of the housing department at School of Planning and Architecture. He assumed office as the new DUAC chairman on October 14, taking over from renowned architect Raj Rewal. Speaking to TOI, Rao said the commission is working on what should be the vision for Delhi.
"We want to change the perception of DUAC. Many people said they have had bad experiences. We want to know the reason. We are compiling information based on records of the last five years. It is not the case that approvals are always late... we have a provision in DUAC Act that we meet every 15 days. One meeting has already been held since I joined and the date for the next already fixed. I want to be armed with statistics before I take the issue of DUAC delaying projects... We want to see how many projects have been cleared and the average time it took to clear them," he said.
The arts body is headed for digital governance. "If you want to submit plans for clearance, you will not have to sit here for hours armed with heavy files and reports. Today we have technology. The plans and drawings are all there and, mostly, this is sufficient information for us to give approvals. For complicated projects, a detailed analysis would be required. But routine projects can be cleared quickly," Rao said.
He admitted that DUAC needed to "connect with reality" more. "We need to know the pulse of the people but let them know that aesthetics are important. Until they realize the value of aesthetics, they won't acknowledge the importance of DUAC. We, too, need to understand the constraints of other agencies," he said.