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On the first day of the revamped Central Vista Avenue opening up to the public, large crowds thronged the lawns, with canals and a drone show being a big draw in the evening.
The stretch of the avenue near Janpath Road which was nearly deserted in the afternoon on Friday gradually begin to get crowded in the evening.
Irshad Ahmed, a businessman from South Delhi, was at the avenue with his children, his four-year-old riding a bicycle down the walkway. “I was initially sad when this place was closed. I thought that the one such place in Delhi was also taken away from us… this was like our beach. But now I think it was worth the wait. What I’ve seen of it looks good,” he said. The underpasses have ramps so there’s easy access for the bicycle, he added.
Ravinder Yadav, who was also at the avenue with his children, said, “We’re happy about the park that’s here now. The underpass means that we don’t have to get through traffic to cross the roads now. We used to come earlier as well, for the children to play here.”
For Dhruvi Muradiya, a class 10 student, said the area around India Gate was very crowded on Friday evening. “The canals were dirty before. Now, they are clean, but people are sitting here dipping their feet in it. It’s our responsibility to maintain what has been built now,” she said.
Siddharth, 21, a Delhi University student, said the place now makes for a good spot to take pictures. “I came to India Gate three to four years ago. The canals were dirty then,” he said.
B S Malik, who is more than 80 years old, said, “I used to come here with my family before. Nobody used to come near these canals. Now you have all these lights.”
Police have been deployed in large numbers along the entire revamped stretch.
A total of 300 illuminated drones took up formations to create images connected with Subhas Chandra Bose in the sky near India Gate on Friday evening. The drone show by BotLab Dynamics, a start-up incubated at IIT Delhi, will be on till Sunday.
While screens showcased the work that had been done on the avenue, a cultural programme with dancers from different states was also held Friday, drawing crowds.
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