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durbar was held in Delhi. It was in this durbar The new city had broad roads, big bungalows
that the decision to shift the capital from Calcutta and many gardens. A bungalow was a large one-
to Delhi was announced. storeyed structure with a lawn in front and a
The famous Urdu poet, Mirza Asadullah Baig kitchen garden at the back. On one side of it,
Khan was popularly known as ‘Mirza Ghalib’. He were quarters for the servants.
was employed in the court of Bahadur Shah New Delhi was also a very clean city. The British
Zafar, the last Mughal emperor. He lived in Gali spent a lot of money on drainage. There was an
Qasim Jaan in Ballimaran in old Delhi. efficient system of water supply, disposal of
The Building of New Delhi sewage and good drainage facilities. There was a
sharp contrast between the character of the old
Once, Delhi was
city of Shahjahanabad and the new city built by
made the capital, the
British set out to the British.
beautify it. The new The Rashtrapati Bhawan is the official residence
city was deliberately of the President of India. It was designed by
made very different Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker and was
from the old city. This officially inaugurated in 1931 until 1950, it was
w a s b e c a u s e t h e known as the ‘Viceroy's House’ and was the
British wanted to wipe residence of the Governor-General of India. It
out the memory of the has 340 rooms. Inside the Rashtrapati Bhawan is
Mughals from the the beautiful Mughal Gardens.
minds of the people,
and they wanted to show the enlightened nature
of their rule and how much they were doing for
the people of India.
Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker embarked on
the task of building the city of New Delhi. Work
on the city began on a hill, called Raisina Hill,
where the Viceroy’s place (now the Rashtrapati
Bhawan) built. The Rajpath led to this. The
Secretariat buildings (now the North Block and
the South Block), India Gate and the Parliament
House (Sansad Bhawan) were also built. The Old Delhi : While beautifying the new capital,
lines of imperial style of architecture. New Delhi the British neglected the walled city. There was
was officially inaugurated in 1931.
no proper system of water supply. Nor were there
proper drainage facilities. There was no concept
of underground drains. At some places, open
surface drains were dug. The baolis gradually fell
into disuse. The population meanwhile kept
increasing.
The grand havelis of the walled city also gradu-
ally collapsed there were very few traditionally
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