Delhi Police are in talks with officials of the Delhi high court, requesting them to allow visitors of India Gate and National War Memorial to park their vehicles at the court’s multilevel parking lot.
Senior Delhi Police officers held a meeting with court officials two week ago. Deputy commissioner of police (New Delhi), Madhur Verma, said India Gate and National War Memorial are the two most-visited tourists spots in the capital. “Especially during late evenings and weekends, the two spots thousands of visitors swarm the spot as a result of which parking of vehicles become a massive challenge. With the multilevel parking of the high court available for these visitors, we will be able to address the problem of parking effectively as the court’s parking remains almost vacant at the weekends and in the evening,” Verma said.
Confirming that the police have requested them to make the parking space available for tourists, the high Court registry said the proposal is pending approval. The multilevel automated underground parking facility in the Delhi high court, generally used by advocates, reportedly has a capacity of about 1,300 vehicles. Police are in talks to work out a system, in which the vacant parking spots could be used by visitors.
The India Gate and National War Memorial together witness a daily footfall of about 50,000 people on weekdays. On weekends, the footfall touches 1.5 lakh.
At present, two spaces are available for parking at the India Gate hexagon. These two spaces will be available even after the high court parking is made available, police said. However, people will have to walk roughly about 600 m to reach the National War Memorial from the high court parking lot. DCP Verma said, “Anyway, most tourists use the Central Secretariat Metro station or Pragati Maidan Metro station and walk down from there.”
Another officer said the charges which will be applicable for the usage of the high court parking lot are yet to be decided. “We are yet to decide till how late in the night will the parking inside High Court will remain open for use,” said the officer, who did not wish to be identified.
First Published: Apr 01, 2019 06:06 IST
