The project is supposed to come into action on February 20, but there are no vehicles to ensure last-mile connectivity
From a provision for the last-mile connectivity to convincing traffic officials, none of the preparations are in place for the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) plan to implement its vehicle-free Connaught Place (CP) plan this month.
In addition, the civic body does not have the required number of battery vehicles, buses, and cycles on hire, which are supposed to ferry customers to the inner circle, as per the proposed Park-and-Ride facility. Besides, the civic body has still not presented the final plan to the traffic police, who are in any case reluctant to go ahead with it.
According to a senior traffic officer, the plan does not seem feasible enough to be sustained in the long run. “We do not have enough personnel to support this elaborate scheme. Also, the civic body is yet to give us its final plan, so that we could make our comments and suggest recommendations. It seems far-fetched at the moment,” the officer said.
As part of the plan, people driving to CP will park their vehicles at designated slots — Shivaji Stadium, Baba Kharak Singh Marg, and Palika Bazaar — and then take a shuttle service to reach the inner and middle circles. The plan, to be implemented on a pilot basis for three months, was approved by Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu in a meeting on January 5.
“We are working on arranging the vehicles. Initially, we will start with an alternative arrangement with a few CNG buses. We need to have another round of consultation with traders and the traffic police this week,” NDMC Chairman Naresh Kumar said. He added that after the plan is finalised, they will begin the ground work on fixing new signages to guide people and inform them about the Park-and-Ride facility.
The plan was to become operational on February 1 but has been delayed till February 20.
Meanwhile, the otherwise buzzing CP was shut for business till late afternoon on Tuesday amid calls of ‘Save CP’ by protesting traders. The traders’ association has gone up in arms against the NDMC plan to ban vehicles inside the inner and middle circles.
Holding placards and raising slogans against the civic body, such as ‘No car, No karobar’, the traders gathered in the C-block parking. They said the NDMC has held only one meeting with them so far. According to them, if the plan is implemented, 80-90 per cent of their business will be affected.
“Why should every experiment be done in CP? This market has more pedestrian space than any other major market in the city. They should, instead, regulate traffic in the circles and remove unauthorised hawkers, vendors, and drug addicts from the area. Are they ready to do that, even as they go on to pedestrianise the market on the lines of European places?” asked Atul Bhargava, President of the New Delhi Traders Association.
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