Pondy plans a facelift

An impressive beach promenade, renovated parks and an arts and crafts bazaar modelled on the Delhi Haat — these are part of this union territory’s plans to attract domestic and foreign tourists in a big way.Already a well-known destination for visitors, thanks to Auroville and JIPMER, Puducherry is keen to maintain its image as a window of French culture, and has embarked on a series of projects to renovate and beautify its prominent locations. The Puducherry government is getting financial assistance from the Centre under the ‘Product, Infrastructure and Destination Development’ scheme to beautify the 1,220-metre-long Beach Road at an estimated cost of Rs 5 crore and renovate the Gandhi Thidal at an estimated cost of Rs 3 crore.The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) has been entrusted with the two projects. INTACH coordinator Ashok Pande said that the existing broken pavements on both sides of the road would be replaced with 30-mm thick dressed granite slabs and cobblestones that are more heatresistant. “Cement benches will be replaced with granite ones, and conventional electric lamp posts with architecturally-designed cast-iron posts. We plan to plant palm and coconut trees, besides erecting wooden pergolas for creepers along the entire stretch during the first phase,” he said. The Gandhi Thidal will house an arts and crafts bazaar modelled on the lines of Delhi Haat and will be promoted as an ideal venue for artists and craftsmen from across the country to showcase and sell their artefacts like paintings, metalware, jewellery, terracotta items and textiles.The government had earlier renovated the historic park and its surrounding regions based on popular European park models at a cost of Rs 5 crore under the same scheme. The ancient Puducherry monument Aayi Mandapam in the park was given a facelift and the pathways leading to the monument were paved with granite slabs and cobbles.Some of the interesting new features in the park include musical objects like wind chimes hanging from the trees, pergolas and experimental music objects like ‘singing stones.’ Similarly the old sculptures and pillars scattered in the park have been relocated in an orderly manner and provided with individual spotlights for clear visibility.