Roshanara Bagh, a Mughal-era garden, is named after Roshan Ara, one of the daughters of Emperor Shah Jahan, to be aesthetically redeveloped at par with the Lodhi Garden or the Nehru Park.

Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena on Saturday visited the historic Mughal era garden Roshanara Bagh in North Delhi and directed officials to redevelop and rejuvenate at par with the Lodhi Garden or the Nehru Park by October end this year.  The Mughal era garden is located in Shakti Nagar near Kamala Nagar Clock Tower and the North Campus of the University of Delhi. People flock in numbers here just to sit back or to indulge in different sports like badminton, cricket and more.

Saxena directed the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and other officials to aesthetically restore, revamp and redevelop the greens spread over 57 acres of Roshanara Bagh into an ecologically rich and landscaped garden and bring it at par with the Lodhi Garden or the Nehru Park.

He emphasized that the entire revamp, redevelopment and rejuvenation work of the Roshanara Bagh complex should be completed by the end of October this year. The Lt Governor has ordered to to develop a world-class nursery of rare and exotic plants and flowers amongst others, on an indentified 8.5 acre piece of land within the next three months.

 He instructed for works to be started for the same today itself by removing the dead foliage, debris and C&D waste. This nursery will, apart from providing about 3 lakh plants and saplings annually for plantation across the city, also provide the people of Delhi with the same at nominal prices. Starting the works of rejuvenating a silt and wild undergrowth filled dead lake spread over 3.8 acres on Saturday, the Lt Governordirected officials to put in all efforts to restore the lake to its past glory.

He ordered  officials to dredge and clean it to a depth of at least 4 meters and ensure that it develops as a natural water body that not only evolves as a place of visitors attraction, but also develops as an eco-system that sustains varied flora and fauna with a fully restored existing island in the lake.

Underlining that rain water in itself will not be sufficient to fill the lake, the Lt. Governor issued instructions to ensure that water from the neighbouring areas prone to flooding, water logging and overflow – like Roshanara Road, Kamla Nagar, Shakti Nagar, Malkaganj and Andha Mughal that fell in the catchment, be channelized into the lake through dedicated channels and pipelines. The soil being de-silted from the bed of lake is getting used to build a four meter high bund around the lake. The Lt Governor  asked for the embankment thus created to be secured and paved by utilizing the C&D waste dumped at the Bhalaswa landfill site.

While this would help reduce the burden on the landfill site on one hand, it will also ensure that the soil on the bund does not flow back into the lake. These works he underlined should be completed within a month.

Describing the hitherto neglected Roashanara Bagh situated in the middle of Katras, by-lanes and overcrowded concretized areas like Sabzi Mandi, Ghantaghar, Shakti Nagar, Kamla Nagar and Malkaganj etc. as an asset,  Saxena ordered that walkways be developed, trees be pruned and shaped, scientific plantation in congruence with the soil and climate and landscaping be ensured, so that the expanse comes up as a visitor’s site of choice for not only the people of the neighbouring areas but the entire city. The redeveloped gardens should be replete with eco-friendly public utilities, eateries and recreational spaces.

Roshanara Bagh  have a cricket ground and cricket was started here by Britishers in 11922. Roshanara Bagh is considered the birthplace of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

It was at the Roshanara Club, a first-class venue, where initial discussions to form a national body to regulate cricket in India took place in 1927. Discussions also took place in other parts of the country, including Mumbai, before the BCCI was born on a chilly winter day on December 4, 1928. It was regular venue for Ranji Trophy matches over decades and favourite destinations for players across generations.