Raahgiri: A step towards environmental change

Ishika Manchanda, 35 has been living in Gurgaon since the last 15 years. An entrepreneur by profession, he has seen the city grow into a millennium city all these years. She mentions that the biggest and far most the most commendable change that she has experienced in this city has been the introduction of the ‘Raahgiri Day’.  This initiative has not just been appreciated by Ishika alone but by the thousands of people that reside in this busy city.

More than a year ago, the city of Gurgaon, started out with the concept of Raahgiri Day on November 17, 2013. Raahgiri day was started in a quest to make Gurgaon accessible for its residents and encourage the use of cycling, walking and public transport in the city.  The event was initiated by NGOs like IamGurgaon, Pedal Yatri with support from Haryana Police. The main concept of Raahgiri had been that every Sunday a particular street or a section of a road in a locality would be kept closed to cars and other automobiles in the morning, the time fixed from 7:00 am to 12:00 pm, and the street would be open only to the public on foot and they can use it according to their will. Adults and children are free to come to the closed area to skate, run and walk; or to take part in community leisure activities such as street games, street dancing; to learn yoga, aerobics and zumba. Raahgiri started in Sushant lok along with DLF Phase 4,5 and spread to Palam Vihar and sector-23 in the later months. Based on the model of Ciclovia , an event that started in Colombia, Raahgiri gained huge success since its first Sunday. 

From plays to stage shows by bands like Euphoria and from yoga to cycling, one can witness various activities happening around the area stretched for more than 10 kilometers. With the success of the Raahgiri day in Gurgaon, it made its debut in Delhi at the Inner Circle, Connaught Place, on July 13, 2014. Similar to Gurgaon, people from various areas in Delhi started to come up to take part in the event. The Raahgiri day in Delhi has been organized by the New Delhi Police along with the support of the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and Embarq India. Although Raahgiri in Delhi is limited to Connaught place for now but the immense success has resulted in the probability of Raahgiri spreading to more areas of Delhi too. ‘ The enthusiastic turnout every Sunday at the Raahgiri Day in the coming months will encourage more and more people in Delhi to turn Sundays into more fun and more healthy by cycling, walking, and exercising’, say the organizers.

Ever since its debut in 2013 about 2.3 lakh people have participated in this movement which happens every Sunday for 4-5 hours. Raahgiri Day has not only gained wide media coverage all over the nation but also it has been chosen as one of the most 24 most inspiring stories for ‘’Pathways to Green Cities” by the Global Advisory Committee of the Earth Day Network. It has also been selected as one of the six most innovative solutions in addressing road safety. Since 2013, Raahgiri has spread from the areas of Delhi and NCR to various other states. Today Raahgiri day is celebrated every Sunday in more than 5 cities like Gurgaon, Delhi, Hyderabad, Dehradun and Bhopal.

The success of Raahgiri also shows that in order for a space to become a Place, it doesn’t need to be fancy; it only needs to be human. The more flexible it is, the better it caters to its ever-changing audience. But just one great Place is not enough. Raahgiri needs to spread around more cities and states of the nation. In India, this seems to be only the beginning of a revolution. With several other Raahgiri events in the pipeline and an increasing dialogue on road safety and the role of streets in the built environment, the next decade will be crucial.