Keep off the grass at India gate till Games

Thanks to the Commonwealth Games you won't be able to walk barefoot on the dew-moist lawns of India Gate. Delhiite's favourite late night drive to India Gate to enjoy ice creams has hit the Games hurdle. A civic agency is planting new grass at the India Gate lawns — the biggest open space in the
heart of the city — so all the parking lots have been barricaded and made out-of-bounds.

You can only walk down till the War Memorial Arch, after parking your car elsewhere. The Rs 6 crore-project is being completed on a war footing with only 37 days to go for the Games.

Metal barricades have been put up at all the six-entry points: Shah Jahan Road, Tilak Marg, Pandara Road, Copernicus Marg, Sher Shah Road and Zakir Hussain Marg. The lawns have also been ringed with barbed wire. The plan also includes relaying the pavements with red sandstone.

Police said they got a request from the Central Public Works Department (CPWD), the agency carrying out the work, to close the parking points.

"It was never a parking area. It's good quality grass so needs time to grow," said Chandra Bhushan Upadhyay, spokesman, CPWD. The lawns will remain closed till the Games are over.