Poor lighting, squalor, drug addicts: Rohtak parks cry for maintenance

Tribune News Service

Sunit Dhawan

Rohtak, March 28

Several parks located in Rohtak have been lying in a state of neglect for long. Many of these lack basic amenities such as clean drinking water, washrooms and proper lighting.

In addition, the boundary walls and entry gates of a number of such parks are broken or damaged.

Residents’ bodies have several times urged the authorities concerned to do the needful in this regard, but no change has taken place on the ground.

The local municipal authorities’ plan to hand over the parks to the residents’ welfare associations (RWAs) for the maintenance also hangs in balance due to legal/administrative reasons.

“Some of the parks had been handed over to the RWAs for maintenance. However, the firm that had had got the contract for their upkeep moved the court, following which the plan (to hand over parks to RWAs) was stayed,” said Pawan Ahuja, the president of Sector 1 RWA.

Owing to the lack of proper maintenance, benches, swings and other installations in some parks are broken or damaged, while some portions of walking tracks have become uneven. In some parks, the earth has caved in, posing a risk to residents visiting the sites for morning and evening walks.

Many parks have become a den for anti-social elements and hooligans, who consume drugs and other intoxicants there.

A couple of days ago, some men removed a board of Pt Shri Ram Sharma Park. Besides, stray dogs and other animals can be seen roaming in the parks, causing insanitary

conditions there.

Baldev, a regular visitor to a local park, said people who consume eatables at the parks throw the leftovers, wrappers, boxes, disposable plates and glasses on the benches or grass instead of disposing these of in dustbins.

“A number of residents go to the parks for daily walk. However, the maintenance of many parks is not up to the mark. Broken benches and swings, damaged and uneven walking pathways, and lack of proper lighting and civic amenities such as clean drinking water as well as washrooms are the major concerns that need to be addressed,” said Ravi Sharma, a local resident.

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