No traffic zone, street food till midnight: Delhi's Chandni Chowk gets a facelift

New Delhi, Sep 12: The newly renovated Chandni Chowk market, a 400-year-old legacy that has been a part of Delhi since the Mughal era, was thrown open to the public on Sunday.

Addressing the gathering near Fountain Chowk in the Chandni Chowk main market, Chief Minister Aravind Kejriwal said that after the redevelopment, Chandni Chowk has become more beautiful and people come here to walk till midnight.

"It has already become an important tourist place. I came to know that people come here to roam till 12 am. Street food joints will be allowed to open for 3-4 more hours till 12 am so that people can come here in the night and enjoy. Lots of street food joints will be opened after closure of the market," Kejriwal announced.

Earlier the project was to be inaugurated on April 17 this year but was cancelled due to the second wave of COVID-19.

Delhi's Chandni Chowk Gets a Facelift: All you need to know

• The Chandini Chowk street, synonymous with broken roads, dangling wires, traffic congestion will now look more beautiful and aesthetically appealing.
• The entire area will be transformed into a tourist hub by allowing street food joints to operate till midnight.
• Almost 1.4 km stretch of the Chandni Chowk market has been beautified.
• Traffic on the stretch was improved, dangling wires were made underground, CCTVs were installed under the redevelopment project.
• The main Chandni Chowk stretch between the Red Fort and the Fatehpuri Masjid crossing has been improved and beautified.
• The stretch has been developed as a pedestrian friendly corridor and made aesthetically appealing with the help of red granite stone, decorative lights and plants and street furniture etc.
• The stretch has been made a "no traffic zone" for motorised vehicles between 9 am and 9 pm.
• The project was approved in August 2018 and work on it began in December 2018.
• It was to be completed in March 2020 but the project got delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic and its deadline was further pushed to December 2020.
• The project got delayed further and was set for inauguration in April this year but the event was cancelled due to surge in COVID-19 cases in the second wave.