Gurgaon residents turn roads into playgrounds

Imagine lying down, eyes closed and body relaxed on a city road and practising pranayam. On the average day, an assortment of speeding cars, buses and trucks would have ensured instant suicide but Raahgiri days are not ordinary days. They are Sundays on which Gurgaon’s citizens reclaim large stretches of roads and turn them into carnival corners, cycling tracks, jogging paths, football grounds and even dance floors.
For five hours every Sunday morning, vehicles are prohibited on these sections. Instead, ordinary people come out in droves and play, dance or simply walk easy with the wind in their hair without worrying about a line of honking cars and SUVs bullying them off the road.
From November 17 last year, Gurgaon has been holding these Raahgiri days. The first such traffic free initiative began on a 4.5 km stretch near Galleria Market; it then spread to the residential colonies of DLF Sector 5, adding another 6 km area to the fun corridor. Four months down the line, Raahgiri has become a habit with residents, and thousands walk out of their homes to revel in the freedom from traffic every Sunday from 7 am to 12 noon. Pithoo, zumba, football, skating, frisbee, galli cricket, there isn’t a single activity you can’t spot on these Gurgaon streets on Raahgiri days.
The idea came from the famous Ciclovia festival in Bogota, well-known for its state-of-the-art non-motorized transport infrastructure. Here, a few interconnected stretches of roads are barricaded for all motorized traffic for a number of certain hours each week. These roads are used by locals as a park or playground.
Entirely organized and managed by citizens’ groups and ordinary residents of Gurgaon, Raahgiri has been, in the true sense, an initiative for the people and by the people. It seeks to create a Gurgaon that sets the agenda for sustainable transport for the rest of the nation. “We want to create a demand for non-motorized transport infrastructure in cities,” says Sarika Panda of EMBARQ India, a transport research firm which is part of the core group that organizes Raahgiri Day.
Organizing such a day in the heart of a city was not easy. If the message had to be delivered with a punch, busy road shad to be occupied. “That’s the only way people could be sensitized about active commuting,” saysPrabhat Agarwal of Aravalli Scholars, also part of the core organizing group.
Initial meetings were held by the core organizers in May last year, and they were followed by more meetings, email exchanges and presentations on how to take the idea forward. The authorities too had to be convinced to cordon the streets off.
“It took us around two months to put everything together,” says Latika Thukral of I Am Gurgaon, an NGO and one of the organizers of the event.
Even after all the permissions were granted, some policy-makers were skeptical about the idea, says Panda. But it all came together beautifully. On the first Sunday of the event, roads were fenced off using nearly 1,800 plastic cones on a single stretch. Volunteers like Arvind Singla, a 32-year-old MNC professional and resident, created the no-traffic islands and played the role of ‘road safety officers’ every Raahgiri Day.
Fortunately, a sizeable crowd turned up the very first day, and ever since, the crowds have only swelled, creating a popular surge in favour of the festival. “We have proved there is an overwhelming demand for non-motorized transport infrastructure in Gurgaon,” says Panda.
So much so, that among the thousands who participate every weekend is the Gurgaon commissioner of police, Alok Mittal. He can be seen cycling around the venue one Sunday, practising yoga the next and leading a group of walkers on the third.
Is it possible, though, to replicate this model elsewhere in India? Cities such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Noida are already taking a close look at the Gurgaon experiment.
“People from other cities who are interested have to get together and form a nucleus for this campaign. Then, they need active support from the city’s police. The next step is for people to get together and start demanding facilities for nonmotorized transport from civic authorities,” says the Gurgaon police commissioner. Latika Thukral seconds that. She believes that it is the responsibility of the citizens to insist on free road space.