Plan to make Karol Bagh pedestrian-friendly

Karol Bagh, an area popular with shoppers but equally infamous for its chaotic traffic, might get a pedestrian-friendly makeover if the Delhi government has its way.

Delhi Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra convened a multiple agency meeting on Thursday to come up with a strategy to make Karol Bagh a world-class tourist and trader-friendly destination. The major focus of the meeting was on de-congesting the area and making it pedestrian-friendly, Delhi government officials said.

The high-level meeting was also attended by senior officials of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), Delhi Tourism, Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Karol Bagh MLA Vishesh Ravi. In a statement, the Delhi government said that pedestrianisation and traffic management plan for Karol Bagh was discussed for immediate implementation. It was decided in the meeting that existing and overdue plans to create parking sites at Karol Bagh will be now expedited by the Delhi government. Creation of new parking sites was also discussed.

“It was a preliminary meeting, but a beginning in the right direction has been made. The next meeting on Karol Bagh will be held next week, where we will plan to take the ideas forward,” said a senior government official.

“Karol Bagh is popular for its market, but we also want to develop it as a tourist attraction. Some proposals were put forward in today’s meeting, which we further taken further in the next meeting,” he said.

The government said a pedestrian-friendly Karol Bagh will radically improve footfall for traders, apart from making environment less polluted and traffic less congested. Complete pedestrianisation of the area, however, doesn’t seem to be on the agenda of the government as of yet.

“The area will be definitely made pedestrian-friendly, but making it completely pedestrianised will have many implications and ramifications, which would have to be looked into.” The Delhi government said that it will write to competent authorities to request them to expand Raahgiri in Karol Bagh as well.