Omaxe Heritage Private Limited, the firm that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi designated for the recently constructed shopping facility and parking facility in Old Delhi, has agreed to reinstate Gandhi’s name on the facility, The Indian Express reported. Earlier, the MCD had allowed for the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name. The parking facility is situated on the historically significant ground of Chandni Chowk. After being contracted by the MCD, the private company named the parking lot Omaxe Car Parking, with signage installed outside the operational facility, which has been running since December 1, 2022.
New signages installed
The firm has renamed the facility as ‘MCD Parking at Omaxe Chowk, Gandhi Maidan, Chandni Chowk,’ and new signage has been reinstated. The area on which the parking lot was built was earlier known as Gandhi Maidan.
Omaxe Heritage Limited has said that it recently got to know that parking signage installed outside and near the project impacts local community sentiments.
On Sunday, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor urged the MCD Commissioner and Mayor to restore the name Gandhi Maidan on the Mall’s board, proposing the title ‘Gandhi Maidan Omaxe MCD Car Parking.’
Originally part of the Queen’s Garden during the British era, Gandhi Maidan hosted public gatherings, melas, and various events. Following Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, the Delhi Municipal Committee appropriately named it Gandhi Maidan, emphasising its historical significance. As the demand for parking increased in Chandni Chowk around 1980, a car parking facility was established on this land, retaining the name Gandhi Maidan Car Parking.
To address parking challenges in the walled city of Chandni Chowk and support the pedestrianisation initiative, plans for the parking project began in 2017. A year later, due to insufficient funds, the MCD announced that the parking project could not proceed. Subsequently, in 2018, the multi-level car parking-cum-commercial project transitioned to the public-private-partnership model, and the tender was awarded to Omaxe Heritage Private Limited.