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Poor management leaves parks in Ludhiana gasping for breath
Without regular maintenance and dedicated staff, a number of parks in Ludhiana wears an unwelcoming outlook
Poor maintenance, insufficient lighting and absence of surveillance system has left the public parks in the city, which are often frequented by drug abusers and gamblers, gasping for breath.
At a time when the world is battling with rising levels of air pollution, the public parks in the city which are meant to provide a healthy atmosphere to residents, lie in a deplorable state.
Without regular maintenance and dedicated staff to tend to the greenery and maintain cleanliness, a number of parks in residential and commercial areas of Ludhiana, including the clock tower, bus stand, Gill Chowk, Ghumar Mandi, Cheema Chowk and especially the old city wears an unwelcoming outlook.
In the absence of surveillance and proper arrangements for lighting several parks like Yamla Jatt Park near the bus stand and in other areas have become a safe haven for drug abusers and miscreants involved in malpractices. Meanwhile, some parks around residential and industrial areas have been illegally encroached on and used as parking lots.
There are a total of 892 parks in the city out of which over 700 are managed by park management committees(PMCs). The PMCs receive ₹2.5 per square metre from the municipal corporation (MC) as funds to hire staff to maintain the greenery and cleanliness at the parks on a monthly basis.
65-year-old Vasudev, lone caretaker at the Atam Park near Gill Chowk which is one of the largest parks in the area, said along with keeping the drug abuser at bay, his tasks, include pruning the trees and de-weeding the grass. Besides this, he is also responsible for cleaning the park which spans several hundred metres. He added that loads of garbage including plastic waste remain collected inside the park as the administration’s vehicles to collect the same arrive once in a while.
This park requires around four people to perform the routine tasks while other parks in the area lay without any full-time caretaker, he added.
Another resident Jagwinder who lives in Model Gram, said with drug addicts and miscreants taking over the park, residents in the area prefer to remain at home. He added that parents do not allow their children to go to parks to save them from bad influence.
Members of the park management committees, while agreeing to the failure of the PMCs to actively take up the issues, added their dissatisfaction with the authorities in providing adequate funds and facilities.
Surinder Singh, PMC general secretary at ward number 51 said the funds that MC provides for the maintenance of parks fall short of a sufficient amount by a fair margin, he added that their committee has hired two gardeners by crowd-funding so that the senior citizens and children can spend their free time in a healthy environment.
He added that the demands of residents to avail them of the required machinery, installation of lights and other technical expertise have also fallen on deaf ears. Lack of support from the administration also discourages the residents from taking an active interest which is also the reason behind the sorry state of most of the parks in the city.
Dearth of public parks in over 30 wards
Almost half of the total parks in the city are in the zone-D of the corporation, while as many as 30 wards in different parts of the city especially in the newly built colonies near Tajpur road, rahon road, Jassian, Humbran have very few parks.
Councillor of ward number 2 Gurmail Singh said his area hosts a dense population including industrial workers but has no park. He added that a playground has been developed for youngsters on the government land by contributing funds. Portions of land that are reserved for parks have been encroached upon by the locals. Adding that the matter has been taken up several times during the house meetings still nothing has been done to address the same.
Situation better in select areas
Leisure valley near Sidhwan canal, Rose Garden, Basant Park and Golden Park in Janta Nagar are among the parks which are well-maintained and spacious. Manwinder Singla, a resident of Janta Nagar added that as small parks in his area has been encroached upon, he visits the golden park to spend time with his daughter who studies in Class 2. He added that more parks should be developed in every part of the city.
Lack of workers, says MC
Junior engineer MC Kirpal Singh of the horticulture branch which is responsible for the maintenance of parks under MC said workers have been deployed to collect the waste and maintain cleanliness but due to a shortage of workers, the process gets delayed.
He added that MC regularly undertakes beautification projects in the parks and infrastructure is developed according to the budgetary allocations.
