Monuments rebuilt at new waste park
20 Unesco-accredited temples and heritage sites shaped from 200 tonne of scrap at Karol Bagh wonder
The horticulture department of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has completed work on the city’s fourth waste-to-art theme park at Ajmal Khan Park in Karol Bagh, senior MCD officials said.
This is a heritage park where replicas of 20 Indian monuments and temples carrying the Unesco world heritage site tag have been recreated from 200 tonne of scrap waste.
“The files regarding the finalisation of the entry fee have been processed. We have decided to keep ticket prices on the lines of the first waste-toart park at Sarai Kale Khan. The entry will be free for kids up to three years of age, ₹25 for kids aged 3-12 years and ₹50 for people aged 12-65 years. Entry for people aged above 65 years will be free,” an MCD official said.
Located in a congested part of Karol Bagh, the heritage park is spread across 4.5 acres and the green cover has been augmented with 22,000 plants.
It features illuminated canopies of trees and replicas of the monuments. It has been developed at a cost of around ₹4 crore.
The visitor entry area is lined with three 30-foot-tall replicas of Teen Darwaza, which was installed in Ahmedabad in 1415 by Sultan Ahmed Shah.
A few feet away, the entry gateway is followed by a 13-foot-high replica of the “Varaha avatar” of Hindu deity Vishnu, which is a replicate of the idol at the fifth-century Eran temple in Madhya Pradesh.
Visitors will also be able to see replicas of the Shore temple in Mahabalipuram, the Red Fort in Delhi, the Brihadeswara temple in Thanjavur, the Mahabodhi temple in Gaya, Santiniketan in Birbhum, the
Amer Fort in Jaipur, and parts of the Elephanta Caves.
MCD has also revived a defunct musical fountain in the park, with a large seating area developed around it.
“A section of the park has been dedicated to the wheels of ancient temples, ranging from Sun Temple in Konark to Hampi in Karnataka,” the official cited above said.
The first waste-to-art park was opened to the public by then South Delhi Municipal Corporation in February 2019, featuring replicas of seven wonders of the world that were made from 150 tonnes of scrap collected from municipal yards.
MCD has since operationalised the Bharat Darshan Park in Punjabi Bagh, featuring replicas of Indian monuments, the Shaheedi Park at ITO featuring highlights of India’s Independence struggle, and an extension to its first children’s park of wonders, featuring replicas of dinosaurs.