After Darya Ganj, the second stretch on the Heritage Circuit will be from Delhi Gate to ITO, covering Ferozeshah Kotla and Khooni Darwaza, besides other buildings of interest on the Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg.

Apart from the heritage structures on the route, buildings like the Express Building, Dolls Museum, Nehru House, Gandhi Memorial Hall, headquarter of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind and the two stadiums have been identified as places of interest.

“This stretch of the Heritage Circuit covers mostly contemporary places and is different from what Darya Ganj has to offer. However, at present this area is extremely cluttered with unplanned parking, and this is where we are planning to make intervention,” A G K Menon, convenor of the INTACH Delhi Chapter, said.

The Standing Committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi has already passed a resolution to adopt the project. Now, the civic agency has signed an MoU with INTACH and has asked it to finalise the details of the proposal.

“This is an elaborate project; it will take some time to finales the details. The Standing Committee has approved the plan, but the budget is yet to be decided. However, we aim to complete the project before the Commonwealth Games,” MCD spokesperson Deep Mathur said.

According to the plan, the parking on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg will be shifted to a multi-level parking, to be constructed under the Shaheed Park, which will be elevated. Another parking area will be created next to the Express Building. So in the service lane vehicles will be allowed to only pick and drop people.

“We have also proposed to shift the statues in Shaheed Park towards the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium to clear the view of the Fort for passers by,” Menon said. “In front of the park, a plaza will come up with the multi-level parking below it. It will be about 100 metres away from the Fort, in accordance with the ASI rules.”

The project is also expected to earn revenues for the MCD, as the kiosks and signages at the plaza will carry advertisements. “Whatever the MCD spends, it will earn in the next three years,” an INTACH official said.

The panels and signages will also have information about the Fort’s history and contemporary buildings on the route, while food kiosks will offer a larger variety of snacks.