NEW DELHI: In a bid to make the national capital, a sustainable city, the Delhi government’s think-tank, Dialogue & Development Commission (DDC), on Wednesday launched the Community Parks Initiative to transform the neighbourhood parks of Delhi into world-class parks.
Under this initiative, the parks will have public conveniences including adequate lighting, CCTVs and toilets. There will be dedicated play areas for toddlers, children and adolescents with child-friendly play equipment, open air gyms, gazebos and covered seating areas.
Not only this, the transformed parks will also have walking, jogging and cycling tracks along with water bodies. Composting, rainwater harvesting, irrigation supply, power back-up will also be added to the parks. The visitors will also find native trees, flowers and shrubs.
The initiative is the result of a collaboration between DDC and Delhi Parks and Gardens Society (DPGS), RWAs and CSR/philanthropic organisations. It will work towards the transformation of 1,000 community parks of Delhi in the next five years. The first set of parks will be set up with the support of ICICI Foundation, JK Cement and CII Delhi.
DDC Vice Chairperson Jasmine Shah said, “The Community Parks Initiative is an important pillar of the Delhi@2047 initiative which was launched by Arvind Kejriwal in August 2021. Being conceptualised and implemented by the DDCD, Delhi@2047 is an attempt to foster the government’s partnerships with the private sector (CSR initiatives) to achieve the vision of making Delhi a world class city by the 100th year of India’s independence.”
A pilot project to establish a model for the redevelopment of community parks will be undertaken by the DDC in collaboration with the DPGS. These parks shall be designed as multi use spaces. The local communities will be involved in the design and development of these parks in order to ensure that they cater to the needs of diverse stakeholders.
Reena Gupta, advisor to the Minister of Environment, said: “For post-Covid public life, parks far outvalue other public spaces as safe and inclusive havens for community.” Madhav Singhania, CEO of JK Cement and Chairman of CII Delhi, said: “On behalf of JK Cement and CII, we are happy to partner with the DDC on the community parks initiative. This is a part of our sustainability initiative to build better Delhi: Delhi@2047 and to make our parks accessible to everyone.”
Fun and frolic