Coffee homes all over Delhi!

Amitabh Shukla

New Delhi, July 25

For the lovers of Coffee there is good news courtesy Delhi government. It wants to open Coffee Homes all over Delhi if it gets proposal from the elected representatives and DDA provides the land.

At present, the Delhi Tourism runs four Coffee Homes at Baba Kharak Singh Marg, near Palika Sadan at R.K. Puram, Laxmi Nagar and Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg. The Coffee Homes which are due to open this year include the ones at Vikaspuri, Janakpuri, Bindapur and Mohan Garden.

Tourism and Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said the government was willing to open Coffee Homes wherever it was feasible and sufficient land is made available by the DDA. "This is a place where the senior citizens and common people of the city go to relax and we want to encourage this trend," he said.

As part of its image make over, the Coffee Home at R.K. Puram would soon operate round the clock. While only snacks were available earlier, lunch and dinner too would be made available. This will be the first such joint in the Capital, apart from the five-star hotels, where quality food would be available at any hour.

The oldest Coffee Home at Baba Kharak Singh Marg will temporarily shift to the nearby Mohan Singh Place to give way to a multi-storeyed commercial complex to be built by the NDMC. When the NDMC building gets complete, the Coffee Home would shift to the first floor with several new attractions. A flower shop, book store, PCO, cyber café, restaurants, a stage for performing artists, etc. would form a part of the new face-lift. The government described it is a multi purpose Coffee Home to suit the needs of every section. It would also be made operational for 24 hours keeping in view the trend of the Delhiites to go out late in the night.

With the grandiose plans of the government, the private Coffee Homes which has sprung up in several parts of the Capital, would get a run for their money. (2004)