New Delhi:
A parking facility to house as many as 576 buses in view of the
Games rush is all set to come up around the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium,
where the opening and closing ceremonies will take place. The parking
is to cater to the rush of visitors and to ferry the Games family,
which includes a group of over 8000 players, their support staff
and officials during the
2010
Commonwealth Games.
The currently unattended large stretches of Kushak nullah and
Sunehri Bagh nullah in the vicinity will be covered to make way
for the parking.
The Delhi government on Monday decided to release an amount of
Rs 325.50 crore to MCD for covering of the Kushak nullah and Sunheri
Bagh nullah for construction of parking area for 576 buses for
the period during which the Commonwealth Games would take place
in the Capital in October 2010.
A parking for 336 buses would be made available by covering Kushak
nullah behind Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium and for another 240 buses
by covering Sunheri Bagh nullah from Lala Lajpat Rai Marg to Dyal
Singh College along Lodhi Road. The work is expected to be completed
by March, 2010.
As per an assessment by the Delhi
government, the area around Jawahar Lal Nehru stadium would
require specialised parking arrangements as well as pick up and
drop off points, particularly for the opening and closing ceremonies
during the 2010 games.
After visiting the area, an inspection team, led by chief secretary
Rakesh Mehta, came to the conclusion that Kushak nullah, which
is also called Barapullah drain, itself was the best pick-up and
drop-off point for entry and exit to the stadium. The entry from
the nearest point is hardly 100 yards, the team found.
Moreover, according to officials, the Commonwealth Games Federation
has told the state government that they need space for parking
almost 200 buses and a number of cars on the Lodi Road site for
free entry and exit of the Games family — players and their
support staff and officials. Thus parking around the Jawahar Lal
Nehru Stadium is critical, senior officials asserted.
Besides JLN stadium, the parking facility once created could
also prove to be useful for people making their way to other venues,
located around the area. These include Thyagaraja Sports
Complex, Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, Sirifort Sports Complex,
Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium Complex and Talkatora Indoor Stadium.
According to senior Delhi government officials, apart from the
Games period, the covering of these nullahs for parking purposes
would have a huge value because the JLN Stadium holds many shooting
and cultural events throughout the year. “The provision
of parking would enable a number of offices located in the Central
Government Offices Complex and the institutional area of Lodi
Road to use the parking and help ameliorate the parking problem
prevalent in the area.
Source: The Times of India
