The Hindu : New Delhi News : Khan Market to get facelift

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 19, 2007
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New Delhi

New Delhi

Khan Market to get facelift

Manisha Jha

NEW DELHI: After 57 long years, South Delhi’s posh Khan Market is all set for a makeover, courtesy the New Delhi Municipal Council.

Apart from providing an aesthetic boundary wall and lamppost at the entrance, there is also a proposal to develop a green belt in front of the market and re-lay the parking lot and existing footpaths. Keeping in view the safety of the women visitors, augmentation of the streetlights in the market place is on the cards. The market will also adopt a groundwater harvesting mechanism, work on which is already in progress.

The Khan Market Traders’ Association president, Sanjeev Mehra, said: “Two pits for water harvesting will be created in the centre of the parking lot and near the garbage station. Work has already started on one of them.”

According to Mr. Mehra, the shopkeepers have agreed to replace their existing sign-boards with uniformly designed ones to be put outside their shops at the same elevation. “The shopkeepers have decided to contribute a sum of Rs.6 lakh for the same,” he added. An NDMC official said: “The whole process of repairing and re-laying will be preceded by the tendering process. The whole project should be completed by next April.”

Built in 1950 under the rehabilitation market category, the market comprising 156 shops has grown over the years to emerge as one of the most upmarket shopping destinations in the Capital patronised by an elite clientele.

According to Mr. Mehra, the biggest issue bogging down the market today is lack of adequate parking space leading to increased congestion. “The biggest problem we face today is a parking space crunch which needs to be addressed immediately. We have zeroed in on a plot of land belonging to Land and Development Office opposite Bible Bhavan on Amrita Shergil Marg to be developed for parking. This land needs to be transferred from the L&DO to the NDMC which will take time,” he added.

The market is currently in need of parking space for an additional 400 cars to augment the existing parking capacity of about 350 cars. “The parking problem has worsened in the past two years after the L&DO allowed conversion of the first floor from residential to commercial category without foreseeing the increase in demand for parking space and no infrastructure to support the same,” Mr. Mehra added. “Either the conversion should be stopped or additional parking space should be developed. This is the only way to stop the encroachment on main roads by cars and make the roads free for smooth flow of traffic.”

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