Plans afoot to revive glory of 'City of Gardens'

Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, November 24

Once surrounded by beautiful gardens, the erstwhile “princely” town hitherto lost most of these exotic spaces to unplanned urbanisation, leaving residents without any green pockets.

Now, to meet the need of locals who have been clamouring for public parks, the district administration has embarked on a proposal to convert vacant abandoned tracts of land into beautifully landscaped gardens.

Parminder Singh Pinki, MLA, Ferozepur Urban, said already around 15 acres of land situated near the Old TB Hospital which was vulnerable to encroachment by land mafia was being converted into a park in the name of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. It will be equipped with open air gyms and a huge LED screen at a cost of over Rs 1 crore, he added. “The devotees will be able to see live streaming of ‘kirtan’ from the Golden Temple, besides morning ‘aarti’ from the Vaishno Devi shrine,” he said.

The MLA said another park would be developed in the Housing Board Colony in the memory of late BJP leader Kamal Sharma who had recently died of cardiac arrest. Pinki said around Rs 60 lakh would be spent on this park.

Chander Gaind, DC, assured that all parts of the city would have landscaped gardens.

Earlier, the MLA had developed a park on the Baghi Road. Pinki said the parks were being developed to revive the legacy of the town which used to be famously called the “City of Gardens” during pre-Partition times. He added that even the Saragarhi Memorial would be expanded with additional green belt in its north side.

Eldery residents recollect that the city used to boast of several gardens. However, all those picturesque gardens had disappeared with the passage of time, they said. To name a few, Tulsi Ram Bagh, Gol Bagh, Nishat Bagh, Ram Sukh Dass Bagh, Phool Chand Bagh and Kanshi Ram Bagh girdled the old fortified city.