Soon, multilevel parking for 500 cars at Ajmal Khan Road

The civic body, with the help from traffic police, has been trying to create a holistic vehicle circulation plan to decongest and beautify the busy market in central Delhi.

The North Delhi Municipal Corporation has plans to build a multi-level car parking lot at Ajmal Khan Road in the Karol Bagh area. The civic body has already made the 1.7-km stretch pedestrian only.

The north civic body has already made the 1.7-km stretch pedestrian-only. (HT archive)

The civic body, with the help from traffic police, has been trying to create a holistic vehicle circulation plan to decongest and beautify the busy market in central Delhi.

While the movement of vehicles was banned at Ajmal Khan Road in May, several other adjoining roads — Padam Singh Road, Tank Road, Hardhyan Singh Marg and Pyarelal Road — were made “one-way traffic only” in June. The remaining Saraswati Marg and Gurudwara Road will soon follow suit, according to the traffic police.

“Earlier, about 300-400 cars used to be parked on Ajmal Khan Road alone. Plus, the other roads used to have multiple lanes of parked cars, that too, in a perpendicular fashion. Now, we have made it strictly parallel. All these decongestion measures have created a demand for a new parking lot,” said a senior official of the north municipal corporation.

The area of plot earmarked by the corporation for this purpose near Saraswati Marg is about 4,115 square metre.

“We have decided to go ahead and float a tender for the parking lot to be constructed on a public-private partnership (PPP) model. It should have 500 parking slots at least. The commercial area, along with 25% parking, will be given to the successful highest bidder on lease for 99 years,” the officer said.

Existing parkings

The north corporation is also planning to hand over its existing five surface parking lots in the Karol Bagh area -- at 22 B, Dev Nagar; Bank Street; Ajmal Khan Park; Shastri Park (near Gurdwara Road) and Kirti Nagar (near DSIIDC Complex) with a total capacity of 799 vehicles — to the local market associations for their better management.

“The south corporation has done the same in Lajpat Nagar and the market federation is doing the job (of traffic and parking management) very well. In our understanding with the traders’ groups, we will ask them to also install CCTV cameras, deploy sufficient security guards, get an e-rickshaw facility to ferry shoppers on specific fixed routes, and maintain the toilets here,” another senior official said.

The traders’ bodies will pay a monthly licence fee to the corporation, the official said.

The Karol Bagh market’s main Ajmal Khan Road, which for decades remained clogged with haphazard parking and encroachment, was made pedestrians only in May this year. What’s more, it even has shiny new street furniture such as garden lamps and benches.

The street has been marked with yellow and white strips demarcating space for hawkers and is now lined with potted plants.

Bollards have been put at the entry points of Ajmal Khan Road — on Pusa Road and Arya Samaj Road — to restrict entry of vehicles to the road, which is now a no-vehicle zone.