Connaught Place to go car-free this sunday for Raahgiri Day

Connaught Place’s Inner Circle will turn into a car-free public space this Sunday, October 4, from 7 am to 10 am, as New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) invites Delhi residents to experience cleaner air, safer streets and a traffic-free morning as part of the Raahgiri Day initiative marking Gandhi Jayanti.

The event is being organised by the Raahgiri Foundation, Delhi Traffic Police and Fit India, in association with NDMC, bringing together citizens, families, children, cyclists and fitness enthusiasts for a morning centred on active and sustainable living. For three hours, residents will be able to walk, cycle and move through the Inner Circle without any vehicular traffic, a rare experience in one of Delhi’s busiest commercial hubs.

The centrepiece of the morning will be Fit India’s “Sundays on Cycle” ride, expected to draw hundreds of cyclists across different age groups onto the car-free Inner Circle, positioning cycling as a clean, safe and sustainable way to move through the city.

Alongside the ride, the morning will feature yoga, Zumba, street games, sports activities for children and open-air art, creating space for residents of every age group to participate in whatever activity suits them.

Adding a musical close to the celebrations, rock band Euphoria will perform live at Central Park, Connaught Place, capping off the morning’s events.

NDMC Chairperson Manoj Kumar Dwivedi said Mahatma Gandhi believed the health and well-being of a community begins with how people live every day. He said that on Gandhi’s birth anniversary, NDMC was inviting Delhi residents to experience what a street without traffic can offer, cleaner air, greater freedom of movement, safe spaces for children and senior citizens, and a healthier rhythm to a Sunday morning. He said the goal was for residents to experience Connaught Place differently and carry forward the idea that these benefits could become part of neighbourhoods across Delhi, not just a one-time event in the city centre.

Dwivedi said NDMC’s partnership with Fit India was bringing together public health, sustainable mobility and community participation, describing a city where people can safely walk and cycle as one that promotes healthier living and a cleaner environment. He encouraged families, young people, senior citizens and fitness enthusiasts across Delhi to join the Sunday morning celebration.

Mayank Srivastava, Deputy Director General, Sports Authority of India and Fit India, said the “Sundays on Cycle” initiative combined with Raahgiri Day was bringing public health and environmental action together, saying a city where people can safely walk and cycle has cleaner air and healthier residents.

Sarika Panda Bhatt, Co-Founder of Raahgiri Foundation, said the initiative has always been guided by the belief that a street should be safe enough for a child to cycle on and welcoming enough for an older resident to walk on. She said what residents would experience at Connaught Place this Sunday was more than a one-day celebration, offering a glimpse of the clean air, safer streets and healthier living every neighbourhood in Delhi deserves.

The event, free and open to all, will run from 7 am to 10 am at the Inner Circle and Central Park, Connaught Place. Citizens have been encouraged to reach the venue using public transport, particularly the Rajiv Chowk Metro Station, and to walk or cycle to the event wherever feasible, extending the spirit of the car-free morning to how residents travel to it as well.