Transformed Into A Thriving Park From A Garbage Dumping Ground: Millennium Indraprastha Park

Delhi is the kind of city that tells you that humanity can heal the wounds it inflicts on the environment, that tells you that we can atone for our sins, that we can build places of beauty where once stood the scars of our mistreatment of nature.

Ever seen a park built on a landfill site? Come visit the Millennium Indraprastha Park if you want to see a garbage dumping site transformed into a clean, fresh and breathtaking landscape. It’s located near Sarai Kale Khan and Nizamuddin Railway Station, stretching 3 kms lengthwise in an area of 3.4 hectares. It’s easily accessible by road and lies in close proximity to the Indraprastha Metro Station. You can see the running railway lines behind and the Outer Ring Road in front of this park. 

It was built by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in the year 2004 as a weekend picnic spot for families with activities for children. As you enter from the Nizamuddin side, the first thing you will observe is the lush green grass all over the land. This park has small knolls all over the area with little beautifully manicured trees perched over them. You can always see young romance blooming around such spots! 

Lots To See & Do

Not far from here, along the north is the Bougainvillea Garden. As the name suggests, this garden has a few varieties of Bougainvilleas to offer. There are benches, picnic huts, rows of trees and seasonal flowerbeds all along the garden. With running electric cables and big beautiful trees all around, the most interesting feature here is the view of the Humayun’s Tomb. You can see many children playing in the Children’s Garden, but you should not expect much in terms of rides, there is only enough space to run about in the open. 

There is a food court here right in the middle of this park which has five restaurants under the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) which offer light snacks, beverages and quick lunches to visitors. Though the food is not all that good, however, at a location like this, even hygienic food is almost impossible to find, and if you prefer, you can come prepared with home-cooked food. 

A large pool with fountains surrounded by lights makes your evening with family and friends an absolute delight. There are a number of cultural evenings that are organized here from time to time as well, with the assistance of the Sahitya Kala Parishad at an open amphitheatre located inside the park. 

The Highlight - Vishwa Shanti Stupa

The main complex has the Vishwa Shanti Stupa which was inaugurated on 14 November, 2007 in the presence of the Holy Dalai Lama as a mark of world peace. The Dalai Lama also donated holy relics and objects for this Stupa. The Vishwa Shanti Stupa, or the World Peace Pagoda, is a joint initiative of the Shanti Stupa Society and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). Over 30 feet in height, the Stupa is a white dome surmounted by a golden spire, with Buddhist quotations and teachings adorning it. 

Statues of the Buddha further accentuate the atmosphere of serenity that one finds at the shrine. At 37 metres in diameter, the Stupa is symbolic of a long-standing Buddhist tradition where artifacts believed to be relics of the Buddha are interred within the structure of a Stupa to create a shrine. The Vishwa Shanti Stupa is the most recent expression of a tradition more than 2000 years old. 

Lots Of Greenery

Surrounding the Stupa is a small Japanese garden, neatly trimmed and decorated in the Japanese style, making the monument a perfect site for meditation and an interlude spent in self-reflection, where the cares and worries of a hectic life can be cast aside. It remains open to the public from 7:30 AM - 8:30 PM.

One of the essential elements of Delhi’s cosmopolitan character is that every religion finds representation here, and there are shrines of every faith, open to all who seek knowledge and peace. Buddhism is no different; from Tibetan shrines at Majnu Ka Tilla to the Vishwa Shanti Stupa, to the more grand monuments built in the satellite town of Noida, there is much to see, learn and experience. 

For a dose of tranquility and to witness Buddhist stupas up close - come swing by Millennium Indraprastha Park!