Night shelter replaces volleyball ground

Neeraj Bagga

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 24

In an example of rampant concretisation of open green space and sports ground, a volleyball ground at the Gol Bagh has ceased to exist.

A concrete structure, night shelter, for destitute people is coming up over a piece of 6,050 square feet of land. Under a scheme of the Union Government for raising night shelter for destitute, the building is being built with a grant of Rs 85 lakh. Interestingly, a night shelter is already there next to the under construction building.

Deepak Babbar of Mission Aggaaz, an NGO dedicated to the environment cause, said it was highly discouraging move by the custodians of the green belt that they were raising concrete structures within the park. Instead of maintaining the green belt and planting more saplings, their stress is to bring more land under concrete.

Citing the example of historic Ram Bagh, he said wide roads and ample parking lots had been constructed. Already, there are about 10 night shelters situated in different parts of the city. These include Raen Basera at Karam Singh Ward, Bhandari Charitable Trust in Moon Avenue, Krishna Guesthouse, both on the Majitha road, Old Age Home on the Ramtirath road, Central Khalsa on the Putlighar road, Guru Ramdas Old Age Home in Akash Vihar on Canal Link road near Sultanwind, old age home on the Batala road, Raen Basera Gol Bagh, Bhai Piara Singh City Centre, Mata Mehtab Kaur opposite Darbar Sahib and All India Pingalwara Chairtable Trust.