New traffic plan bane for pedestrians at India Gate

Pedestrians visiting the India Gate are having a harrowing time after the Delhi Police have restricted entry and exit inside the C-Hexagon, which has the India Gate lawns and the National War Memorial.

In a bid to decongest the India Gate roundabout and also ensure security in the area, the police have allowed pedestrian entry from the Rajpath and the Shahjahan Road radials. But pedestrians can’t exit from the Rajpath road, which is closer to Central Secretariat metro station and one of the main parking lots in the area. Pedestrians can exit the C-hexagon from radials at Kasturba Gandhi Marg, Tilak Marg and Shahjahan Road respectively.

When HT visited the place on Sunyday, visitors complained about the difficultly they have to face access the metro station and the parking lots, as they have to walk over a kilometre to access the metro station and parking lots.

Renuka Mudgal, an engineer at a private firm, has come to visit the iconic monument along with her family but unlike her previous visits this time she was not allowed exit from the Rajpath. She was asked by the security personnel deployed at the India Gate to exit the premise from Kasturba Gandhi Marg.

“We had to walk around a kilometre to exit the premise and reach the parking lot near Rajpath, where I have parked my car. This was not the case when I had visited India Gate in winters last year. Earlier, you could enter and exit from any of the roads leading to the monument and it was one of the inclusive pedestrian friendly places in Delhi. But now with this arrangement it is only the pedestrian who is suffering,” she said.

India Gate lawns are among the few pedestrian-friendly public spaces in Delhi and visited by people from all walks of life. The new arrangements, visitors said, aren’t pedestrian friendly. “India Gate is known as a pedestrian-friendly place. Bu now it is the pedestrian who is at the receiving end here. Most of the visitors come here through Metro, but none of the exit gates are close to the Central Secretariat metro station—the closest metro station to the monument. Pragati Maidan and Mandi House metro stations are located far from here,” Dutta, who works with a private bank in Delhi, said. He had to walk over a kilometer to reach the Central Secretariat metro station.

The police authorities said that this arrangement was put in place after opening of the National War Memorial with an aim to ease out congestion on the India Gate roundabout (C-Hexagon) and manage the pedestrian crowd. The National War Memorial was inaugurated in February this year.

Explaining the reason for this arrangement, a senior police official said that that heavy pedestrian movement at Rajpath crossing used to block the road leading to traffic snarls and also making the place prone for accidents.

“To streamline the crowd and ensure security we have divided the entry and exit points. This arrangement has not only regularised the pedestrian movement but also eased the traffic on the hexagonal road around India Gate,” said a senior police official, requesting anonymity.

He, however, accepted the fact that the new arrangement was making the pedestrians walk more than they earlier used to reach metro station and parking facilities.

Knowledge partner to the Union ministry of home affairs, Anuj Malhotra, who assisted the North Delhi Municipal Corporation on the Karol Bagh pedestrianisation project, said that such an arrangement would certainly cause inconvenience to the pedestrians.

He said that as per Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning and Engineering) Centre (UTTIPEC) guidelines pedestrian facilitation to metro station is most important.

“The entry and exit points should be at the same place because we cannot treat people like cars. Such an arrangement where people especially kids, women, elderly and differently able people had to walk a lot is against the last mile connectivity norms. The authorities should provide an exit gate towards the Rajpath so that pedestrians can access Central Secretariat metro station,” Malhotra said.

First Published: Sep 01, 2019 21:44 IST