“Instead of relaxing while my child plays, I feel like I am at a traffic signal. I am constantly jittery.” This sums up what many parents who are dependent on public parks in the city feel when they take their children out to play. From broken and rusted play equipment to insufficient lighting, parents point to problems in children’s parks that range from minute to potentially dangerous ones.
Madhuri Modugala, the mother of a two-year-old, said for children who do not live in apartments, public parks are the “only social centres”. “Though the newer parks don’t have these problems, the older ones have issues that include design faults such as welding plastic with metal, broken equipment and lack of enough seating for parents. The timings of what are primarily children’s parks are also not plausible,” she said.
Parents also pointed to adult gyms, children’s play equipment and walking tracks all being crammed into the same space, while the other problems they spoke about were of some parks being located under high-tension wires or near drains.
Last year, a six-year-old boy was killed in Lalbagh when a granite bowl placed on top of a pillar fell on him as he leaned against the pillar. After the tragedy, the Horticulture Department conducted audits on all the gardens and parks under its purview.
Officials of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, who said there are 1,300 parks overall in 198 wards, said maintenance of play equipment was not a difficult task. “Even the local councillors can take it up as it involves simple welding or repairs. But the problem is also how the equipment are used. We often see parents or older people use equipment meant for children,” said Meenakshi, chairman of the BBMP’s Standing Committee on Horticulture.
