Recent rains damaged the compound wall of a Corporation park on Rukmani Lakshmipathi Road, raising fears that miscreants could now take over the facility.
Following the wall collapse, the Corporation was quick the remove the debris. However, the park, located near Rajarathinam stadium in Egmore, has been left without a steel fencing. Anti-social elements can take advantage of this, say residents.
The damaged compound wall is the latest addition to the issues facing the park, which is overrun with thick vegetation and has a pathway and seating arrangements that are broken.
ADVERTISEMENT
Located between the Coovam river and the Rukmani Lakshimipathi Road, the park was built a few years ago by the civic body to strengthen the bund of the water body and also to utilise the vacant space between the river and the stretch for public utility. As Rukmani Lakshimipathi Road is a crucial link connecting several educational institutions including Ethiraj College for Women, the erstwhile Commissioner of Police office and the second-hand vehicles commercial hub in Pudupet with the Anna Salai near Spencer Plaza, civic officials and the police thought that any open space on the stretch would only encourage anti-socials to encroach the public space by illegal parking of vehicles or ‘renting’ out the space for commercial purposes.
In the past, such open spaces along the Coovum river had been encroached by slum dwellers with the result that indigenous plant species were destroyed.
Due to lack of maintenance, the facilities are now covered with bushes and the play equipment have become rusty. The walkway is broken in many places. The Corporation did not maintain the park regularly, allege residents. “As the number of highrise apartment complexes is increasing in the neighbourhood, the park with better upkeep would be a boon for the residents,” S. Kamala, a resident of Egmore.
ADVERTISEMENT
Of late, passers-by have turned the park into an open toilet, making it an eyesore At night, drunkards and miscreants enter the park and create nuisance. Children are not allowed to walk on the footpath in front of the park as snakes are found there. Instead, parents let children play on the road under the supervision of elders. Repeated complaints to Corporation officials and councillors of the local body have not yielded results. “Soon, a team of civic officials will inspect the park and give it a facelift,” said a Corporation official.