Learning and fun for kids at MCD’s new theme parks in Delhi

A civic official said that the concept has been received well at the recently opened dinosaur park at Sarai Kale Khan

Large “interactive play structures” ranging from robots, animal replicas and science models will be at the centre of a new series of 10 Children parks to be developed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, senior municipal officials said.

Children plat at MCD's first theme park in Greater Kailash N block on Tuesday. (Raj K Raj/HT Photo)

The erstwhile South MCD developed its first Children’s park as “Nandan Van” in Greater Kailash-1, N-Block near Central School in 2018 with cartoon anime and animal themes at a cost of ₹1 crore. Now, the MCD is aiming to develop at least one such park in each of its administrative zones so that children across the city have access to at least one such facility in their region, a senior MCD official aware of the project said.

The ten location which have been finalised by the MCD include the park above the Hauz Khas multilevel parking in the South zone, SU block park Pitampura in Keshavpuram zone, Sector 21 park in Rohini for Narela zone, a portion of historic Qudsia Bagh under the City-Sadar Paharganj zone and the park near Ganga Ram Hospital in Rajendra Nagar for the Karol Bagh zone, the official said.

“Just like innovative alterations have been made to the giant dinosaur replicas in the dinosaur parks, the structures in the upcoming parks will have innovative swings, slides, multiplay equipment, wall-holla and climbing nets designed into the central replicas. Each park will also have knowledge sections where the information about the theme would be shared,” the official who asked not to be named said.

A second senior civic official said that the concept has been received well at the recently opened dinosaur park at Sarai Kale Khan, and added that similar large structures on various themes will be developed in the next series of “Nandan Van” children’s parks across the city.

“We are finalising the themes and dimensions of the structures. The robot park is likely to come up in west Delhi near Mayapuri Metro station and the sea theme park will come up near Swasthya Vihar in east Delhi,” the second official said. A container themed children park was opened in Ishwar Nagar, New Friends Colony in 2020.

The second official said that each of these parks is likely to cost around ₹1.5 to 2 crores. “The overall project will cost around ₹20 crore. Each park will take eight to nine monthsto develop,” the official added.

MCD officials say that the existing “Nandan Van” features a series of equipment on cartoon themes but the new parks will evolve on themes of “sculpture play”. The second official said that models of all themes are being created and slides and swings, climbing nets, huts, viewing decks will be added to them.

The themes which have been worked out by MCD’s horticulture department include robots, sea, science, peacock, octopus and cats among others. “For instance, the science park may feature the helical structure of the DNA with a staircase at the centre and the strands acting as slides,” the official said.

MCD has stated that with opening of the dinosaur section the footfall at the waste to wonder park in Sarai Kale Khan has again gone up.”The number of visitors in the winter months before the opening of dinosaur section was less than 500, and now we are getting 1,000-2,000 visitors everyday. Almost 50-60% of these visitors are children,” the first official said.

MCD data shows that the park sold 7,358 tickers (over 1,000 tickets every day) in the first week of February — this was immediately after the opening of the dinosaur section dedicated for children. The number of tickets sold more than doubled compared to previous weeks and 50-60% visitors were children.

MCD manages more than 15,226 parks across its 12 zones — Centre, South, West, Najafgarh, Rohini, Civil Lines, Karol Bagh, SP-City, Keshavpuram, Narela, Shahdara North & Shahdara South. Over the years, the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights as well as the Delhi high court have asked the corporation to ensure that there is adequate place available for children to play in the local parks. Currently, only designated corners for children exist in MCD parks at 1,300 sites.

Rajeev Suri, a resident of Defence Colony who had filed a petition on children’s right to play in 2018, said that the Nandan Van in GK has been well received. He added that while the move to make more Children’s parks was welcome, the entry fee for these facilities should be minimal so that children from all backgrounds can access them. “Our petition is pending before the Supreme Court. We have demanded that at least 25% of park space should be earmarked for active sports for children. The children’s corners with swings and slides are useful for children up to age six-seven years but what about children between six and 16 years? Theme parks are good but there should be safe play spaces available in their neighbourhood parks as well.”