Crowd control a wasted effort, park chaos persists in South Delhi

NEW DELHI: Two days after TOI reported the traffic congestion caused by visitors to Wonders of the World Park at Sarai Kale Khan parking their cars illegally on Ring Road and the flyover there, South Delhi Municipal Corporation claimed to have made better arrangements for vehicle handling. However, when TOI visited the park on Saturday, it noticed no change in the situation.
Admittedly, there were 8-10 traffic police officers and some Home Guard personnel deployed on and beneath the flyover and at the park’s entrance, but it was evident that this was wholly inadequate for managing the crowd, which by SDMC’s official record, numbered 15,000, most of them having congregated there after 5pm.
As reported by TOI on June 20, the parking lot only has slots for around 95 vehicles, including two-wheelers, so the visitors continued to park their cars on the road beneath the Sarai Kale Khan flyover and on the road opposite the park, and in the process clogged Ring Road.
At 7.30 pm, as hundreds jostled to buy tickets amid hundreds of others prepared to leave the area, there were many others who slowed down traffic, their cars in low gear, trying to find some place along the road to stop and leave their cars before making entering the park.
Anika Kumar (name changed), a resident of Pitampura and a teacher in MCD primary school, said, “I regret having come here on a weekend,” she said. “There is no way you can spend time looking at the installations in the park because of the huge crowd. Even outside the park area, things are crazy. With such inefficient parking arrangement, people are struggling to find a space where they can leave their car.”
Adesh Sherawat, who came from Narela in north-west Delhi with his children, had an even worse experience to share. “It took me more than an hour to reach the place and then I had to wait for over 40 minutes to manage a parking slot,” he grumbled. “Now I don’t know how long it will take to get the tickets. I came here after my kids insisted on visiting the park during their summer holidays. But if you ask me, it was a really bad decision.”
On being asked about this glaring lacuna in the planning, an SDMC official said that it was impossible to get land for a parking lot immediately, but the civic body had taken temporary measures to reduce the rush. “On June 21, we added another ticket window, but we can see it hasn’t resolved the issue. So we have decided to sell tickets online,” he claimed. “Additionally, a team from the licensing department will be here from Monday evening to vacate the area of unauthorised vendors. They will also assist police in managing the parking.”
The official said SDMC would request DDA on Monday to give it the vacant plot near Millennium Park for a parking lot. The plan is to build a stack parking facility there.