Heavy crowds at park drive traffic chaos at Punjabi Bagh crossing

NEW DELHI: The Bharat Darshan Park has added to the congestion around Punjabi Bagh crossing on Ring Road with hundreds flocking to the park every day, leading to traffic snarls.

Officials aware of the matter said lack of parking for visitors to the park has emerged as one of the main factors leading to traffic jams, especially on weekends, public holidays and evening hours.

To resolve the problem, the engineering wing of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) plans to develop three multilevel parking lots in the vicinity to provide parking space for more than 663 vehicles. The three multilevel parking sites will come up near Punjabi Bagh Club Road, the existing municipal crematorium and inside the Waste to Art park, which was opened in December last year, the officials said.

A senior MCD official said two parking sites have been approved by the standing committee while Delhi Development Authority has handed over 2,300 sqm on Club Road for the third parking lot.

“We have hired a consultant to recommend how to best utilise this space for parking and decongest the stretch,” the official said.

Currently, visitors park their vehicles on the Ring Road, adding to the congestion on the busy intersection.

“This network of multilevel parkings will also cater to several buildings in the vicinity that witness footfall. Work on two parking lots will begin this month. Tenders have been finalized and work orders have been issued for two lots. We have started marking the site for the first parking lot near the cremation ground on Tuesday. Similarly, the second facility will replace the existing green waste processing centre,” the official said.

The municipal corporation runs Punjabi Bagh cremation ground, which is the second largest funeral facility in the city. It has a surface parking spread over 5,000sqm area which has space for around 80 vehicles.

“A five-storey puzzle parking is being developed at this site which will increase the vehicle capacity to around 225,” official said.

Puzzle parking is an automated system that enables horizontal and vertical movement of spots, to park and retrieve cars.

The second parking lot inside the park will come up in place of the bio-composters.