New Delhi, Oct 26 (PTI) Going for a new look, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has moved away from the conventional colour scheme for road dividers and kerbs in areas under its jurisdiction and is now painting these pink and green.
After the dividers and kerbs on Vinay Marg were repainted pink and green on a pilot basis, the new colour scheme can now be seen in almost all areas of Lutyens’ Delhi such as Ashoka Road, Parliament Street, Rajiv Chowk (Connaught Place), Indira Chowk (Connaught Circus), Jantar Mantar and other areas such as R K Ashram Marg and Ferozshah Road.
The colour combination used earlier was ‘black and white’ or ‘black and yellow’ for the road dividers and kerbs.
“It is kind of an aesthetic initiative. We came up with this idea of painting the kerbs pink and green to give a new look and bring uniformity in the area. Also, green symbolises an eco-friendly approach,” said NDMC Chief Engineer, Anant Kumar.
However, the initiative has not been without objections and there were complaints at the outset from Delhi traffic police who said that NDMC had “not used” reflective paint which ensures road visibility for commuters.
According to traffic officials, they had objected to the change in the colour scheme as the purpose of the paint should be to reflect light and make the dividers visible.
NDMC had thereafter used reflector strips which, however, did not serve the purpose as they started coming off after a few days.
The civic agency is now using reflective and thermoplastic paint in carrying out the change in the colour scheme, especially for the road turnings.
“We have started using reflective paint now instead of reflector strips after objections were raised by traffic police. Our focus is mainly on the medians and turnings,” Kumar said, adding that the pink and green colour scheme will be applied for the whole of the area under NDMC.
The work of using reflective paint will be completed by October 31, he said.
However, commuters said that the new colour combination may pose a challenge in terms of visibility, especially during winters and in the night time, as the contrast level of pink- and-green is lower than that of yellow-and-black or white-and- black.
Asked about it, NDMC officials said that the commuters will not have any complaints with reflective paint now being used for the changed colour scheme.