May 2 , 2019 ;

At Ajmal Khan Road in Karol Bagh Wednesday, an unusual sight greeted shoppers. While a traffic police officer stood at the entrance, diverting vehicles to a different route, the busy market sported streetlights, benches, bollards and spacious walking spaces.

Nine years since it was planned and approved by the Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning and Engineering) Centre, Ajmal Khan Road market has been declared a vehicle-free zone by the North Corporation.

This means there will be no movement or parking of vehicles on the stretch between Karol Bagh Metro Station and Arya Samaj Road cut.

According to corporation officials, the pedestrianisation project was conceptualised during the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

“I had in mind that Karol Bagh would be the ideal place to have a proper parking plan. After joining (the corporation), I came to know that UTTIPEC had already envisaged a plan. There is a committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs monitoring various traffic-related issues… we happened to mention it (the project), after which we received full cooperation from traffic police,” said North corporation commissioner Varsha Joshi.

White and yellow traffic lines have been made on the stretch to denote spaces for walking. Spaces have also been allotted to hawkers. Meanwhile, boards and signages have been put up on streetlights and poles to explain the rules of the vehicle-free zone.

According to the corporation, an alternative arrangement for parking was the key challenge in implementing the project. “The biggest constraint would have been that if you remove parking from the road, where do you put the cars? We were able to locate two-three spaces for off-street parking. We re-purposed certain MCD properties in the middle of the market for parking after getting due clearances,” said Joshi. These spaces include Bank Street, Dev Nagar, Ajmal Khan and an upcoming space in Shastri Nagar.

Pradeep, a Karol Bagh resident who has frequented the market for the last 30 years, said it now resembles a “foreign destination”. “Earlier, when cars used to line up in front of shops, it created a lot of problems. Now there is space to walk for everyone… It also looks cleaner,” he said.

A Ministry of Home Affairs consultant and other experts of traffic and urban spaces were part of team executing the project, officials said.

While the move has received support from shoppers, some remained apprehensive. “When you remove parking, where will customers go? They park their cars here because it is convenient. If they have to carry a lot of stuff, they won’t want to go that far. This will impact business,” said Gurinder, a shop owner.

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