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GDA refuses to scrap entry fee to Sanjay Nagar parks, says will revise it
Ghaziabad: The officials of the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) Friday said they will review the entry fee for Shilp Udyan Park at Sanjay Nagar. The residents
Ghaziabad: The officials of the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) Friday said they will review the entry fee for Shilp Udyan Park at Sanjay Nagar. The residents in the area have been protesting against the entry fee which came into effect from Thursday, but the GDA said the fee will not be scrapped.
According to GDA, they have announced an entry fee of ₹10 per person per day and one can also buy a monthly entry pass for ₹150 per person. However, residents started protesting against the fee as the park is located adjacent to densely populated areas of Sanjay Nagar and Raj Nagar.
“The GDA should not have levied an entry fee as the authority has to provide such services under its by-laws to the local residents. Apart from that, parks are part of housing schemes and their costs are already levied in the cost of each flat. It is wrong to now levy an entry fee,” Rajendra Tyagi, councillor from Sector 10, Raj Nagar, said.
GDA vice-chairperson Kanchan Verma said some residents had met her over the issue. “Residents were keen that GDA should maintain the park. We have levied an entry fee only on bigger parks as we have to deploy additional resources and manpower for their upkeep. Otherwise, the maintenance is proving to be too costly. We have not levied an entry fee on smaller parks. We will revise the entry fee, but we will not scrap it,” Verma said.
The Shilp Udyan Park is spread over an area of about four acres and was developed in 2013-14 by the GDA.
The authority’s horticulture department officials said the authority charges an entry fee at several of its big parks such as the Swarn Jayanti Park (Indirapuram), Ambedkar Park (Vaishali), Central Park (Raj Nagar), Manav Aushadhi Park (Raj Nagar) and Ram Manohar Lohiya Park (Sahibabad).
“The monthly maintenance cost of such big parks are in the range of ₹1.25 lakh to ₹2.5 lakh as we have to pay for pump operators, guards, electricity and other facilities like open gym, swings, etc. We have also proposed an open gym at Shilp Udyan Park at Sanjay Nagar as an added facility for residents,” an officer from authority’s horticulture department said.
The authority at present maintains about 140 different parks, including 10 big parks, in its jurisdiction areas.
