MCD facelift for markets near rly station, Red Fort

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has decided to give facelift to Amrit Kaur market opposite the New Delhi railway station ahead of the Commonwealth Games. Officials said the market’s new look will be on the lines of Janpath. The civic body also plans to upgrade Azaad Hind market near Red Fort along similar lines.

In a bid to make shopkeepers in the two markets an equal party in the redevelopment project, the MCD has asked them to implement the redevelopment work on their own, and at their own expense. “We have developed a design for the two markets based on the Janpath model, and it has already been given to the shopkeepers for implementation,” Deputy Commissioner (MCD city zone) Krishan Kumar said.

Kumar said owners will have to align their shops with the design provided and MCD will monitor the work and ensure it is implemented on time.

While Azaad Hind market mainly houses small travel and transport agencies, the Amrit Kaur market is lined with dhabas and small, mostly unlicenced, guesthouses. The MCD is also mulling on issuing ‘temporary’, or ad hoc, licences to these guesthouses, though only till the Games.