NEW DELHI: It is going to be easier for shoppers and pedestrians in Kamla Nagar Market in north Delhi if the plan to decongest the popular area near Delhi University’s North Campus is properly implemented.
All vehicular traffic will be prohibited on Kolhapur Road between 9am and 9pm. During the day, the full pedestrianisation of the street will be possible with a 2-metre-wide vending zone in the centre of the road. This central zone will be an “open-air mall” where people can shop, eat, sit and relax. Vehicles will be allowed back in the 9pm-9am period and the shop front area of 1.8m with a buffer zone of 0.7m will be made available for pedestrian movement.
The new street plan for Mandelia Road proposes that the 18-metre-wide road should dedicate more space for pedestrian movement with only 6m for the use of vehicles. Under the new avatar, the road will, therefore, have 4.3-metre-wide footpaths on either side with a 2m buffer zone to accommodate utilities, hawkers and street furniture.
Before formulating these interventions, a walkability audit of all the connecting roads was carried out on parameters like path availability, crossing safety, amenities, obstructions, sense of security, etc. On a scale of A to E with A the highest, none of the roads scored A or B but mostly fell in the C category alongside a few dangerous stretches, such as on GT Karnal Road and Ghantaghar Road, in the D and E classes. Bungalow, Maharaja Agarsen, Mandelia and Kolhapur roads were graded as C, with identified problems like encroachment by hawkers and illegal parking, absence of footpaths and safe pedestrian crossings and surface quality.
The total length of roads in the area is 7.8km of which 5.4km have footpaths though only 55% were deemed to be walkable. Utilities such as transformers are present on the footpath on Satyawati Marg and Ghantaghar Road, forcing people to walk on the carriageway, the walkability audit noted. The buffer zones between pedestrians and vehicles hold signboards, transformers and toilets that hamper movement.
The masterplan proposes the use of grass pavers and brick jaalis in green buffer areas to increase water retention and reduce waterlogging. While some bollards had been introduced in the previous avatar of the plan, the shopkeepers in the market had reported that they only increased the encroachment by hawkers and vendors.
The new proposal states that self-monitoring will be triggered by making shopkeepers the stakeholders to ensure that walkways in front of their shops remained clear of encroachments. “There would be a heavy penalty for violators,” the plan advises.
The working group formulating the plan was informed that an automated parking underneath Spark Mall had the capacity to hold around 800 cars, but it is under-utilised due to long waiting time for entry and exit. “North Delhi Municipal Corporation was directed to explore mechanisms to make the on-street parking rate higher in comparison to the automated parking at Spark Mall,” the plan says.