Connaught place traders oppose vehicle-free plan, will meet CM

Connaught Place traders will meet Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi and New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) chairman Naresh Kumar to voice their objections to making Connaught Place pedestrian-only from February onwards.

Connaught Place traders will meet Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi and New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) chairman Naresh Kumar to voice their objections to making Connaught Place pedestrian-only from February onwards.

Traders have opposed the pilot project to make Connaught Place vehicles free for three months. (Ravi Choudhary/HT File)

The decision was taken in a meeting of members of the New Delhi Traders Association on Friday.

“Over 50 of us met. We have asked for time and will try and meet the NDMC chairman, MP Meenakshi Lekhi and chief minister Kejriwal, who is the MLA from the New Delhi constituency. Let’s meet and see. Let us first exhaust this option. Then we will figure out the next course of action,” New Delhi Traders Association president Atul Bhargava told Hindustan Times.

Traders have opposed the pilot project to make Connaught Place vehicles free, which is being done in partnership with the New Delhi Municipal Council and Delhi Traffic Police by the Union urban development ministry, for three months starting in February.

“Connaught Place has 15ft of covered corridor and 20ft of walking space which is the biggest in any commercial or high street market in the country. This is sufficient for all visitors. Walking on the tarmac in the inner circle in our harsh climate, which runs almost nine months in a year, is not an option at all,” Bhargava said.

NDMC, which is implementing the project, says it would introduce customised battery-operated vehicles for public transport within the Inner Circle of Connaught Place, while parking would be allowed in the Outer Circle and at Palika Bazar.

It is also thinking about giving incentives to people who park in the under-utilised automated parking lot at Baba Kharak Singh Marg, an official said.