MCD set to allow social events at waste-to-art parks

The fee for holding such events has not been finalised yet but it is likely to include booking charges, sanitation charges and a security deposit to ensure proper upkeep of the parks, civic officials said.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD)-run waste-to-art theme parks in the city are likely to be made available soon for holding private and corporate social events, and shooting of movies, senior civic officials said.

The Waste to Wonder park at Sarai Kale Khan. (HT ARCHIVE)

The facility is likely to kick off from Punjabi Bagh’s Bharat Darshan park, which will be made available for bookings for birthday parties, corporate events, pre-wedding shoots, kitty parties and shooting of short movies, the officials said.

“We have formed a proposal for making booking space available for large social events in batches ranging from 50 to 300 people. Bharat Darshan park with replicas of Indian monuments spread over 8.5 acres will be first offered for such bookings,” a senior MCD official on condition of anonymity said.

The fee for holding such events has not been finalised yet but it is likely to include booking charges, sanitation charges and a security deposit to ensure proper upkeep of the parks, civic officials said.

The civic body is also working on online slot booking and digital payments. “We are in touch with prominent UPI-based payment vendors and booking companies. The proposal in this regard has been sent to the finance department. The facility to smoothen the access to our theme parks would be introduced soon,” the official quoted above added.

However, MCD is yet to take a decision on the booking charges. “Charges will vary according to the number of people and time slabs. A sanitation charge to be included in the cost will be used to clean the space after the events. The organisers will have to provide an undertaking that no damage to MCD property will be caused during the event,” an MCD official said.

Earlier too, a similar proposal was floated by the erstwhile South MCD for the theme park at Sarai Kale Khan but it could not materialise. According to the 2020 proposal, the booking charges for birthday parties was ₹10,000, ₹15,000 for pre-wedding shoots, and corporate events were supposed to be charged ₹25,000 for a six-hour slot. The security deposit varied from ₹5,000 to ₹10,000 and was refundable.

The first park designated as ‘Waste to Wonder’ was opened at Sarai Kale Khan in February 2019. It features replicas of the seven wonders of the world which have been made using 150 tonne of scraps of automobile parts and other metal waste like rods, iron sheets, nut- bolts, bicycle and bike parts and old appliances.

Since then, MCD has operationalised the Bharat Darshan Park which features replicas of Indian monuments, and the Shaheedi Park ITO which showcases India’s freedom movement. An extension of the Sarai Kale Khan Park in the form of a dinosaur-themed park for children was opened earlier this year.

According to municipal officials, the Waste to Wonder park proved to be a hit and the project recovered its input cost within first 12 months. “The first two parks sold over 2.2 million tickets till December 2022. The dinosaur section has once again revived footfall at the Sarai Kale Khan facility,” the official added.