NDMC has no plans to turn CP into green zone
Pedestrians will have to keep dodging traffic at their favorite shopping destination, Connaught Place -thanks to New Delhi Municipal Council, which said it is not possible for them to dismantle the parking lots in Inner Circle and convert them into green space. Vijaita Singh reports.
Pedestrians will have to keep dodging traffic at their favorite shopping destination, Connaught Place -thanks to New Delhi Municipal Council, which said it is not possible for them to dismantle the parking lots in Inner Circle and convert them into green space.
The home ministry, too, recently informed Rajya Sabha that there are no plans to convert parking lots into a green space - which would have made it a pedestrian-only zone.
"We have not yet received any document which says that the movement of vehicles will be entirely blocked in CP," said Satyendra Garg, joint commissioner of police (traffic).
The traffic police had earlier made several alterations to facilitate smooth flow of vehicles in CP.
NDMC - the civic body responsible for the maintenance of CP - has already planted green strips on some of the stretches, which were earlier used as driveways. Just before the Commonwealth Games, CP was given a facelift, which cost the exchequer Rs 350 crore.
"There are several issues that needs to be taken care of if the civic agency wants to make CP entirely a pedestrian zone. Lack of additional parking facilities anywhere in the vicinity is one of the major problems," said a senior police officer.
The civic agency had also planned to ban private vehicles in Inner Circle some time after the Games. But shopkeepers protested against the move, saying it would turn away shoppers incurring huge losses.
It was working on a 'park and ride' concept, under which people who wanted to enter Inner Circle would have been able to park their vehicles in multi-level parking lots at Baba Kharak Singh Marg and Shivaji Stadium.
Though the construction work started two years ago at both parking lots, it is yet to be completed. Work at the Shivaji stadium was to be completed before the Games.
NDMC was also to run battery-operated buses in the Inner Circle to help shoppers reach wherever they wanted to.