Refusing to give up its attempts of turning Connaught Place into a “ghost place”, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has begun a surreptitious move to implement its “rejected” plan of carbandi in the city centre.
The NDMC has put a few signboards of “no entry” in some parts of the inner and middle circles. Also, the council has started two electric cars and six scooters from Shivaji Stadium to provide park-and-ride facilities to CP visitors.
The fresh push for carbandi that was not well received when proposed initially has been condemned by traders who strongly feel the idea would hit their livelihood.
“We will fight if they tried to divert our customers,” said Atul Bhargava, president, New Delhi Traders’ Association (NDTA).
However, a NDMC official has claimed that the idea to put the hoardings of “no entry” and provide electric cars is to make the area congestion free. “We will seek public opinion on this and we are trying to decongest this historic place,” said the official.
“The park-and-ride facility is to encourage the people to make CP pollution and traffic free. The visitors can park their vehicle in the stadium parking and can board the electric car for inner circle,” said the official.
Meanwhile, Bhargava said the council should be clear on the point that CP is not a tourist hub. “CP is a central business hub and the officials in the NDMC have told us they will keep us in the loop before implementing the plan of vehicle ban,” he said.
On February 7, over 4,000 traders and their employees in CP had protested against the decision to make the inner and middle circle vehicle-free zones.
Not only the CP traders but regular visitors to CP had also joined the protest, after enraged shopkeepers appealed to them to be part of their “Save CP” campaign. All the shop owners had shut down their shops in support of the traders against the impractical move of the NDMC.
Also, desperate traders had tried to reach out to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal through Twitter. “Connaught Place is a trade area. It needs regulation of traffic and strict enforcement against violators! @ArvindKejriwal #SaveCP,” a trader tweeted while protesting against the council
Tagging the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and NDMC, a trader tweeted, “@Moud_India @tweetndmc First let’s get Civic and then #pedestrianise a thriving trade area like #connaughtplace We are not Europe or America.”
The project was discussed on January 5 this year in a meeting of NDMC officials chaired by Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu. And it was officially announced that to make CP area pedestrian friendly, cars and buses will not be allowed in the middle and inner circle.