Vehicular traffic and parking areas in Connaught Place's inner circle will be closed from tonight till June 21 morning in the wake of preparations for the International Yoga Day. However, people will be allowed to walk freely in the area and shops will also remain open.
The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) is gearing up for the International Yoga Day on June 21, centre of which in the national capital will be the Connaught Place area.
"The vehicular traffic in the Connaught Place’s inner circle area will be closed from 11 PM tonight till 11:30 AM on June 21 for preparations and arrangements for organising the event. Shops and pedestrian traffic will remain open but no inner circle parking lots will be available," a senior NDMC official said.
He said the civic body has kept the traffic police and New Delhi Traders' Association (NDTA) in the loop.
As many as 10,000 people will join Union minister M Venkaiha Naidu, Delhi Lt. Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the common Yoga performance in the national capital on Wednesday.
The NDMC will organise the Delhi edition of the event at Connaught Place, its six radials and inner circles, roads along with three gardens -- Lodhi Garden, Nehru Park, Talkatora Garden -- and also at Children Park at the famous India Gate.
"About 10,000 participants will be performing the common Yoga protocol. The programme will start at 6 am and Yoga protocol by the participants will go on from 7 am to 7:45 am," NDMC Chairman Naresh Kumar told reporters.
"Urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu will be the chief guest while sports minister Vijay Goel, Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal, Delhi Chief Minster Arvind Kejriwal and New Delhi MP Meenakashi Lekhi will be among the other guests taking part in the event," he added.
The diplomats of various countries would be participating in the programme at Nehru Park, he said.
Volunteers from organisations like Patanjali Yoga Peetha, Art of Living, Maa Shakti, Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vidyalaya, Gayatri Pariwar, Moraji Desai National Institute of Yoga (MDNIY), the Delhi Police, the NDMC, the CISF, the CRPF, the BSF, the ITBP, the Walking Volunteers, general public, VVIPs and VIPs would perform yoga on the occasion.
"The vehicular traffic in Connaught Place's inner circle will be closed from today 11 pm till 11:30 am of June 21 for preparations and arrangements and organising the event. Shops and pedestrian traffic, however, will remain open but parking lots in the inner circle will be available," the NDMC chairman said.
On Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call, the UN General Assembly declared in December 2014 that June 21 would be observed as International Yoga Day every year. This year, Lucknow will be hosting the main event in which the PM and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will be participating, along with around 55,000 people. The first Yoga Day celebration in the country was organised at the Rajpath in New Delhi on June 21, 2015, in which representatives of 191 countries had participated.
