yatayat park crying for maintenance

By Shraddha Desai     

“Sab jagah pe lakdi rakhi hai aur hume khelne ki koi jagah nahi hai. Hum aate hai to choukidaar uncle hume bhaga dete hai. Yaha par jhule bhi nahi hai aur jo hai vo bhi tute hai. Ab yaha aana accha nahi lagta.”

(The park is full of log of woods and we have no space to play in the park. If we enter then security guard asks us to leave immediately. There are no swings while some are under poor state. Now we find no interest in coming to this park.) said disappointed Anand, a 7 year old boy who was playing in a filthy ground in front of Yatayat park.

 Yatayat Park, in front of MVM College, Roshanpura, was constructed for teaching traffic rules to children and their play, but the purpose could not be solved and instead it is in use for some other purpose.

The park is full with the log of woods that are kept here due to the ongoing construction work of BRTS corridor. Large numbers of trees have been cut that were coming in between the construction work and therefore the logs of woods are all placed in Yatayat Park. Not only inside the park but the area outside the park is also captured under the log of woods. 

 It is due to this reason that children are compelled to play in the filthy ground in front of Yatayat Park as there is extremely no space for children to play in the park. Not only this, but, the park constructed with Crores of rupees is now, under a poor state. The swings are all broken while the fountain erected is also not functioning.  

The tiles are all broken and there are no benches to sit. There is no cleanliness and the waste disposal containers are kept outside the park that too under a poor state.  Altogether, no maintenance work is taking place in the park and therefore children are no more interested to come here. The park remains silent. A group of only three to four people could be seen in the park chatting with each other. They were the local residents and all aged between 50- 60 who visited the park daily for a simple conversation with each other.  

 When I, being the reporter of Hitavada approached those people to know their view about the park they acknowledge me with the fact that the log of woods are misused. Since they were the regular visitors to the park therefore they had the idea about the illegal business.

On the condition of not giving the name one amongst them said that,” the woods are sent to the officer’s bungalow where it is utilized for their personal use. The illegal business takes place at night whereby the Municipal Corporation vehicle comes to pick up the woods and then the logs of woods are sent to the officer’s residents.”

He further said that,” This illegal business is continuing since a long period of time and since the authorities themselves are involved into it therefore nothing can be expected from others. The logs of wood kept over here are all old while the logs of newly cut trees are sent to the officer’s bungalows.”

When in charge assistant engineer, Pramod Malviya was approached in this context he tried to hide the facts and gave diplomatic answer. He said that,” for the improvement of the city BRTS corridor construction work is taking place and therefore the logs are kept over here. The woods are given over sawmill and no illegal business is taking place.”

The question arises over here that if no illegal business is taking place then where are the new logs going? When corporator Rehan Goldan, ward 33, was approached he accepted the fact regarding the illegal business.  

He said that,” Municipal Corporation is corrupted. It is destroying the park with no maintenance work. The basic objective of opening the park is not fulfilled and the public representatives are themselves involved in it. The vehicle comes at night and picks up the new stock of woods to send at the bungalows. I being the corporator had also raised a question against the placing of woods in the park but no attention was paid in this context.”

It is to be noted that more than a park the place has become more a commercial point and if this is the carelessness of the authorities concerned towards the park then they are not only disappointing children but are also raising a feeling of discontent and mistrust amongst the local residents.