Special Games Kiosks for Information cum Food

You can savor the different delicacies of Delhi at a kiosk close to your house now. For the Games, Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will install 40 information-cum-food kiosks across the city which will focus on hard selling ‘Brand Delhi’. Two such installations were opened on Monday. Chief minister Sheila Dikshit inaugurated a cafe near Birla Mandir while mayor Prithvi Raj Sawhney unveiled a similar
kiosk near Red Fort.

The mayor said kiosks will be put up at various heritage sites and major markets. T-shirts, bags, caps and mugs with themes like ‘‘I Love Delhi’’ and ‘‘Delhi Dilwalaon Ka’’ under the brand tag of ‘‘Delhi memories’’ will be sold at these cafes. Each cafe will have a 30x20 inch touchscreen to provide information to visitors in eight foreign and Indian languages about tourist attractions in the city, its culture and heritage, shopping areas, food, accommodation and nightlife.

‘The kiosks will also sell street food and beverages in a safe and hygienic environment. For example in the stall near Chandni Chowk, the famous paranthas, chaat, jalebi and lassi of Walled City will be available,’’ said Amiya Chandra, chief of MCD’s remunerative project cell.

Added another official, ‘‘We will have chocolates in the shape of Qutub Minar and earrings will be shaped like jalebi.’’ The official added the items that are being sold are all eco-friendly. The MCD said it has not incurred any expenditure in the project which has been undertaken in a public-private partnership mode. The stalls will be operational for 100 days and the private agency will get profit from the sale of items. After that, the units will be transferred to MCD which will use them as government-to-citizen kiosks.

‘‘We will transform the stalls to G2C kiosks. Touch screens will be there, but no items will be sold,’’ said Chandra. The touch screens will provide information on ATMs, police stations and hospitals along with important contact numbers other than travel related information about Jaipur and Agra. It will have bluetooth to facilitate data transfer.