GHAZIABAD: After a long wait, the Rajnagar District Centre — the city’s major commercial hub — has been made a vehicle-free zone from Saturday.
Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) officials said an 800m stretch outside Gaur Mall will now be out of bounds for traffic and a separate parking bay with a capacity of 1,200 vehicles has also been developed adjacent to the mall.
“The idea to make RDC a vehicle-free zone was being worked upon for many years now and due to one reason or the other, the project never took off. But we wrapped up the work in less than a year and was inaugurated on Saturday by the Ghaziabad MP VK Singh,” said Kanchan Verma, vice chairperson, GDA. RDC usually sees a footfall of about 8,000 people on weekdays, which reaches to about 15,000 on weekends, according to pre-Covid estimates.
“A fountain in the middle of the centre, 10 kiosks, fancy lighting and seating arrangements for more than 2,000 pedestrians have been made. It is going to be a shoppers delight now where they can spend quality time, we have also installed all boom barriers to deter vehicles from entering except for emergency services,” said Verma.
A park for differently abled was also inaugurated in Indirapuram’s Neeti Khand 1. The park has been developed at a cost of Rs 50 lakh.