Richa Bhardwaj

Professional and Reflective Space

Chandigarh/ Tri-City

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Metro or No Metro? Reframing the Public Transport Question in Chandigarh

On 31st July 2025, The Tribune published a striking headline: “Do you want Metro or no?” MP Tewari seeks clarity from UT Administration[1]. For me, this question was quite surprising because just a few months ago, newspapers were buzzing with updates: new metro routes finalized, project costs announced, maps detailing underground and overground stretches, and timelines of phased development.

That sudden uncertainty made me pause and think: what are we really asking when we ask if Chandigarh needs a Metro? Pondering over this question, I thought maybe this is not the right question to ask. A better question would be: Does Chandigarh and its urban region need a robust public transport system?

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Chandigarh and the Right to the City: Beyond Erasing Slums

On 15th August 2025, Chandigarh’s UT Administrator announced that 55 acres of land, “freed” by the recent demolitions, including those of slums or bastis[1] would be used for “public welfare projects”, including a 400-bed regional medical hub, solar initiatives, and urban infrastructure upgrades. Reading this in context to multiple demolitions and evictions of urban poor settlements in 2025, a question I keep returning to: Public welfare for whom, if it begins with eviction? The Chandigarh demolitions are not isolated; similar reports have been emerging from other cities such as Delhi and Faridabad, among others. While evictions and demolitions are not new, what is particularly troubling is the correlation between them and the opening up of space for welfare projects, as if the sole reason many such projects were stalled was due to “unauthorised encroachment” on public land.  

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Heritage, Waste, and Imagination: Re-reading the Rock Garden

This blog was written in the centenary year of Mr. Nek Chand’s birth, following the demolition of a part of the Rock Garden’s wall in early 2025. It reflects on the layered meanings of this space, as heritage, protest, urban design intervention, and an incubator for sustainable practices, and asks what it means to truly honour a visionary like Nek Chand in today’s planning culture.

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