On directions of the Uttar Pradesh state government, the Ghaziabad district magistrate has directed officials concerned to identify and arrange for a hectare of land in every gram panchyats of the district where playgrounds are proposed to come up. The directions have been sent to respective subdivisional magistrates and have asked them to identify land in every revenue village, officials said.
The Ghaziabad district has 161 gram panchayats across four developmental blocks of Bhojpur, Loni, Muradnagar and Rajapur. According to official records, the Bhojpur block has 47 gram panchayats, Loni has 32 and Muradnagar has 48 while Rajapur has 34 gram panchayats under its jurisdiction.
“The directions were received from the state government and every gram panchayat is proposed to have one hectare of land which will be used by locals to create a playground. Officials have been asked to identify land, including the land belonging to gram sabhas. In case where land is not available they have been asked to identify part of land earmarked to be used as playground adjacent to government schools,” the official spokesperson for district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey said.
“The district magistrate has also directed that after the identification of land, it will be levelled and their boundaries will be looked after the respective gram sabhas so that no encroachment or illegal constructions comes up. The initiative has been taken to provide sports facilities and playgrounds for locals and school children,” the spokesperson said.
{{/usCountry}}“The district magistrate has also directed that after the identification of land, it will be levelled and their boundaries will be looked after the respective gram sabhas so that no encroachment or illegal constructions comes up. The initiative has been taken to provide sports facilities and playgrounds for locals and school children,” the spokesperson said.
{{/usCountry}}Officials said the playground facilities are intended for use by local children who often do not find space to play or do not have access to sporting facilities. They added that the playgrounds will be developed by the district administration.