NEW DELHI: As part of smart city project, the middle and inner circle roads of Delhi’s Connaught Place will be made vehicle-free for three months starting from February.
Officials said that vehicular traffic will be barred on these roads to facilitate the move of pedestrians in the area which is known as heart of the national capital.
Union urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu discussed the feasibility of “developing water bodies, side walk cafes, public plazas, holding light and sound shows and street festivals in a meeting on Thursday. The minister was of the view that the ban on vehicles is meant to offer a congestion free, accident free and crime free experience to those visiting the area.
The decision was taken during a meet attended by the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and the Delhi Police which was chaired by the minister.
NDMC and Delhi Police officials have stated that ‘pedestrianisation’ could be promoted by declaring the middle and inner circular roads of Connaught Place vehicle free by providing effective ‘park and ride’ services from major parking areas at Shivaji Stadium, Baba Kharak Singh Marg Palika parking. Total parking capacity at these three locations is 3,172 and on an average only 1,088 vehicles are being parked. This unutilized capacity could be fully used by promoting ‘park and ride’ concept, they said.
Officials said that there will be adequate arrangement for people coming to the area as cycle hiring, battery operated vehicles etc., would be deployed effectively to handle the situation.
Further to restriction of vehicles, in the space available, landscaping, development of water bodies to act as humidifier in the walking zone, light and sound shows, side walk cafes, public plazas, organizing street festivals etc were discussed.
NDMC Chairman Naresh Kumar informed that work on various major components of the smart city plan is progressing as planned. He informed that work on strengthening of smart energy grid network would begin next month and work on automatic metering with automatic demand response work and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) in March this year. Administrative approval for rehabilitation of water supply networks under smart water management, smart automatic meters and water quality sensors is likely to be accorded at the Council’s meeting next week.
Regarding 11 decentralized Sewage Treatment Plans as envisaged in smart city plan of NDMC amounting to a total of 3.10 million litre per day, three plants would be completed by the end of this month and the remaining by June this year.
Installation of of smart poles with CCTV cameras and connected to central command and control centres would be completed by July this year. Four bids have been received for Smart Parking services and are under examination. Another five bids have been received for LED street lighting on 350 poles in first phase in Kaka Nagar and Chandra Gupta Road area and are being examined.
Moreover, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) is being finalized with telephone service provided MTNL for introducing Wi-Fi services in the NDMC area.