Visiting Central Delhi is soon set to give you an experience of the famous Times Square in New York City. large and colourful lED boards carrying news updates, social messages and entertainment clips will adorn the highrises in the area. To start with, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) plans to install such boards at Connaught Place’s Central Park.
The posh Central Delhi area has already been chosen as one of the two ‘Smart Cities’ to be developed in the national Capital. After turning two of its major shopping hubs and tourist hotspots — CP and Khan Market — into free WiFi zones, the civic body is now turning its focus in illuminating the region. Under this, the agency will install large electronic display boards at some of its highrise buildings of the NDMC.
The first of these will be installed in the Central Park of CP for which the NDMC has expressed interest. “Our aim is to turn CP into a place which one would reckon with the famous Times Square of New York. We will install lED boards having approximate sizes of 60’ x 40’. Besides being a commercial hub, CP has turned out to be a place of entertainment with scores of events happening on a regular basis. The boards will help screen live events which would take place in the area,” said Jalaj Shrivastava, chairman, NDMC. The boards, in general, would display interactive social messages, new updates, advertisements and entertainment clips.
The civic body’s ideal plan is to install such boards in most of the highrises under its jurisdiction. However, it is facing hurdles from the traffic police in the matter.
“We have not yet received clearance for installing such screens on the outer surfaces of the buildings. The Traffic Police have objected that it would distract motorists who are driving. So, we decided to go ahead with Central Park first,” added Shrivastava.
“Our efforts are still on to fully pedestrianise CP, at least the inner circle. We have been able to achieve this to a great extent with Raahgiri. So, the screens in this area won’t do any harm,” said a senior NDMC official.
At the Times Square, the billboards have become such a tourist attraction for the area, that the zoning now requires the buildings to be covered with billboards.