With the academic year coming to a close, most school students on holiday seek to spend their time playing at the neighbourhood parks. But many public parks in the city are in a state of neglect.
Strangely, the much talked-about city beautification initiative taken up by the corporation in association with private sponsors does not seem to include any plan to improve the public parks . The corporation has announced that 28 traffic islands and roundabouts are to be developed in the city with private participation, but there has been no word on maintenance of parks.
The corporation lists as many as 24 public parks in the four zones , but very few are properly maintained. Some years ago , the corporation had made substantial investment to give a facelift to some of the parks such as Ibrahim Park on the West Boulevard Road, P.T.Rajan Park in Woraiyur, Lourdusamy Park on the East Boulevard Road, and Parangiri Velusamy Park near Cantonment. P.T.Rajan Park and Ibrahim Park were for a couple of years maintained well through private banks and sponsors, and attracted huge crowds during summer. But most of the parks have fallen into neglect again .
Chinnasamy Park on Rajaram Salai in K.K.Nagar is a case in point. The park with a large number of trees remains locked and inaccessible to the public for the past several months, complain locals.
Trees and plants inside the park are withering without regular watering. Apparently, no proper arrangement has been made to supply water to the park and a borewell has failed. Ill-maintained shrubs and dry leaves spread around the park give a haunted look to it. Children’s amusement equipment inside the park also lies in disuse. Interestingly, a signboard put at the park claims that it is open for children between 8 and 11 in the morning and between 3 and 6 in the evening.
“Previously, many locals used to visit the park regularly. But it has remained closed for long. It is not being maintained properly and there seems to be no effort to improve its upkeep,” regrets A.Palanisamy, a resident of K.K.Nagar.
Poor maintenance has made many parks in the city convenient refuges for anti-socials, who easily jump over the fences. It is essential that the authorities initiate steps to prevent Chinnasamy Park from turning into a den, local residents say.
In 2011, the corporation had announced that P.T.Rajan Park in Woraiyur and Chinnasamy Park in K.K.Nagar would be renovated. But nothing much has come out of it, rue residents.
