NEW DELHI: Buoyed by the implementation of a vehicle-free zone in Karol Bagh, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is mulling revival of an earlier pedestrian project for Connaught Place—a move traders say they will resist. Traders argue that Connaught Place “cannot be equated with Karol Bagh” and the civic body and urban planning experts must note the dissimilarities. The NDMC, however, has called a meeting next week with traders from Connaught Place in the hope that a consensus can be reached on the plan.
“By next weekend we are lining up a meeting with traders to convince them about our pedestrian-only plan for Connaught Place. This process will take some time but we are confident that traders will appreciate our proposal,” said a senior NDMC official.
In 2017, M Venkaiah Naidu, then minister incharge of the urban development department, had while heading a meeting on the Smart City transport initiative, insisted on the NDMC implementing a ‘vehicle-free’ plan for CP. The NDMC initiated a pilot project, which it failed to sustain following large-scale protests by shopkeepers who complained of serious loss of business.
“Our stand has not changed with respect to the ‘vehicle-free’ plan for the market. Connaught Place is not Times Square. Keeping in mind the weather conditions and safety of people, the plan is certainly not feasible. We have opposed the NDMC proposal and will do so again. If they want to experiment, they can try, but Connaught Place already has very wide footpaths and other facilities for pedestrians” said Atul Bhargav, president of New Delhi Traders Association (NDTA), the apex body of traders from some 2,500 shops in the area.
Urban planners agree with the traders on perceived and actual asymmetry between Karol Bagh and Connaught Place.“Connaught Place and Karol Bagh are two different cases. Firstly, CP is a planned market spread along three different circles. The outer circle is mainly occupied by vehicular traffic, which is not destined for the market. Its designed in such a way as to allow exit to traffic passing to other areas of Delhi. The inner circle is where people can park their vehicles in close proximity to their shopping destinations without causing any confusion to other vehicular flow.
The close proximity to a railway station also changes the dynamics. Up to a point, Connaught Place market can manage with vehicles and pedestrians together,” said Arunava Das Gupta, HOD, Department of Urban Design at School of Planning and Architecture. Gupta said the Delhi Metro, which has a station at the Central Park, served most visitors to CP, who are mainly pedestrians and enter and exit the market without affecting vehicular traffic.