Take a ride down history lane at ITO Metro station

NEW DELHI: Delhi Metro is all set to showcase the multi-layered history of ITO area, stretching from the Supreme Court to the ruins of Firoz Shah Kotla, with a permanent exhibition at the new eponymous station.

With the opening of the station and the exhibit alongside tomorrow, Delhi metro will extend its heritage corridor from Mandi House to this busy traffic intersection, which has witnessed the making of "post-colonial India".

"Yes, the exhibit will open tomorrow simultaneously with the ITO station. After showcasing the history of Mandi House, we are very happy to extend the heritage ride further up the line," a senior official of the DMRC told PTI.

The Mandi House metro station had opened in late June last year with a permanent exhibition depicting the transition of the area from a colonial brick kiln zone to a modern cultural hub.

New Delhi-based Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) which worked on the previous project has again dug into archives and libraries to cull out historic photographs and old maps to reflect the transition of the area and its social history.

"The two big panels will portray the city panorama between the Supreme Court and the ruins of Feroz Shah Kotla. We have gone a few kilometres on either side of this reference line and tried to tell the story of the buildings, institutions and the landmarks that came up in this zone," Member-Secretary, ICHR, Gopinath Ravindran, told PTI.

Ravindran says that most of the structures and buildings here came up in the first few decades after Independence and reflected the post-colonial Nehruvian aspirations of "building the new Republic" and the "free press".

"All buildings and institutions have stories and anecdotes to tell. The Supreme Court building erected in the 1950s was shaped to project an image of the scales of justice.

"Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, the 'Fleet Street of Delhi' with the offices of major national dailies located on it, has the story of the national press after Independence," Ravindran said.

One of the panels shows an old black-and-white image of the ITO, with very little traffic plying in an orderly fashion, a sight almost unimaginable today.

The Income Tax Office was one of the first offices to open in this area hence the popular name 'ITO'.

But, perhaps the most interesting historical nugget is the one associated behind 'Tilak Bridge' which was earlier called 'Hardinge Bridge' named after Viceroy Lord Hardinge.

"We have included an old image of Hardinge Bridge when the area used to get flooded a lot. We have also added a photo of the first train that plied on it after its realignment post-independence," said a senior official of ICHR, who worked on the project.

The official added that, "The panels are about 32 ft x 6ft and will be back-lit. And, about 500 images were initially short-listed, but we pruned them down to over 100."