By Ashish Srivastava

New Delhi, Feb 11 (IANS): South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) hopes to open its under-development theme park -- 'Bharat Darshan' -- to the public in the starting weeks of April. The corporation officials said that Municipal Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti has directed the officials to speed up the project which is coming on a six-acre plot in Punjabi bagh.

"Almost 80 per cent of the work is complete. We hope that the remaining work will be finished by March so that we can open it for the public from April first week," Randhir Sahay, additional commissioner told IANS.

The aesthetics of the park is themed upon unity in diversity. The centre of attraction here would be the replicas of famous monuments which will be hosted here from all over the country such as Charminar, Gateway of India, Konark Temple, Nalanda ruins, Mysore Palace, Golden Temple, Meenakshi Temple, Hawa Mahal, Hampi ruins, Victoria Memorial, Sanchi Stupa, Gol Gumbaz, Ajanta Ellora Caves and Junagarh Fort, among other sites.

A senior official from the corporation said the park will display 17 iconic monuments from 14 states, while stating that the corporation wanted to add further, but could not arrange the stipulated funds for that.

"We had plans to add 18 more replicas from the remaining states, but due to issues in getting permissions and funds, the project was withdrawn," the official added.

The official also informed that the work was completed on all replicas except for Charminar and Swarn Mandir, which will take another 40 days. "We are reworking them due to some changes in their look. We are targeting March 31 to complete all the remaining work," said the official.

Another highlight of the park is that the replicas of various monuments are being built from scrap material such as vehicles, fans, rods, iron sheets, and nuts and bolts, gathering dust in municipal stores. "The park will be eco-friendly, self sustainable with its own solar and wind power generation," a senior SDMC official said. The eco-friendly project is self-sustainable and the officials estimated the cost to be around Rs 18 crore.

The park is the second offering by the civic body, which is being developed on the lines of 'waste-to-wealth concept'. Through this project, the SDMC seeks to widen its ambit of 'waste-to-wealth' concept as epitomised in its 'Waste to Wonder Park' in Sarai Kale Khan.

Among other features of the park, it will have landscape designs like waterfalls, fountains, ponds; amphitheatres for cultural events; a food court offering major cuisines of india; audio tours; cultural showcase and photography stalls, the officials informed.

Officials said the project was expected to finish by the end of 2020 but the delay in the project was caused due to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, following which many workers left for the hometown.