After the gang-rape incident of a 51-year-old Danish woman in Central Delhi’s State Entry Road, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has now sprung into action.
The enforcement department on Thursday was directed to identify dark places across the New Delhi area and light them up in a week. Besides, assuming the existing lights to be inadequate, it has also planned to replace old ones with high voltage bulbs. Moreover, nearly two dozen hawkers who had settled in the high-profile Parliament Street were evicted and the area has now been handed over to the Delhi Police.
Apart from installing a series of effective street lights, the horticulture department of the civic body has also been asked to carry out regular tree pruning drives. “Our area is well lit, but at many places the light is obstructed due to the overgrowing foliage of trees. Hence, a tree pruning drive will be carried out,” said a senior official.
Several stretches like Mother Teresa Crescent Road, Kali Bari Marg, Hanuman Mandir and the Outer Circle of Connaught Place in the New Delhi area mostly bear a dim and gloomy look at night with junkies and vagabonds wandering posing a major security threat for pedestrians.
“The episode occurred at a place which does not come under our jurisdiction. It happened in the railway premises. Yet to reduce the possibility of any untoward incident in future, a team of officials has been deployed to identify dark and unsafe locations in NDMC area. These places will be lit up with street lights and the existing ones will be replaced with high voltage bulbs to make the places brighter,” said AK Mishra, Director Enforcement, NDMC.
The agency, on Thursday, also evicted around 20 vendors from the high-security Parliament Street, which is a ‘no-vending zone’. The area has now been handed over to the Delhi Police for its security. It is also going to carry out similar drives in Sarojini Nagar market and Janpath.
In a move to make subways safer for people, the NDMC has also begun to open cafeterias there, the management of which would be responsible for security and maintenance of the subway. One such cafeteria was recently launched in the Janpath subway. It had also scrapped several proposed subways in CP due to safety issues.