Lush greenery coming up below Barapullah flyover

TO CREATE PUBLIC FRIENDLY SPACES

- Snehil Sinha

NEW DELHI: What was once a stretch of garbage and sewage beneath South Delhi’s Barapullah flyover is finally beginning to resemble a city planner's vision.

‘A gravel path now winds under the elevated road, bordered by newly laid grass and native shrubs. Saplings line the corridor, their tender leaves shimmering in the monsoon drizzle as birds and butterflies return to aplace long abandoned.

After two decades of false starts and forgotten plans, the ambitious South Delhi Greenway project has finally broken ground.

The project aims to transform the 12.5-km-long Barapullah drain into an ecological and cultural corridor. Work is now underway on the first 4.5-km stretch, with cycle tracks, pedestrian walkways, and landscaping already visible in some sections.

“This is not just beautification. It’s ecological restoration,” said an Irrigation and Flood Control Department (I&FC) official involved in the implementation. “We're reviving a small portion as a pilot and will eventually expand to larger stretches.”