Rourkela: Most of the major parks under Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) are in dire need of maintenance. Otherwise, these public utility places will cut a sorry figure of Steel City in the days to come. Many parks of different sizes have been set up by the RMC for public use. Some of those came up on vacant lands, shady areas or the land used for dumping of garbage. During the last five to six years, these parks have come up with walking tracks, open-air gym equipment, proper lighting and rainwater harvesting system, yoga platform, tiled benches and basic amusement facilities for children. However, lack of proper maintenance has left these places in bad shape.
Take the example of two major parks — Netaji Subash Fitness Park (NSFP) and Senior Citizens’ Park (SCP). The NSFP is situated just in front of the RMC office and the SCP is situated at ‘C’ Block of Koel Nagar, right in front of the Jhirpani PS. The NSFP was constructed by the RMC and later Rourkela Smart City contributed in making it a favourite spot for fitness enthusiasts and those in search for some quality time in the lap of nature. “But today, the park is inching towards a slow decay,” said a regular visitor there. The public toilets are in bad shape with taps missing, commodes broken and water unavailable. Stray animals, especially cows are freely roaming inside and causing problems for the visitors.
The majority of the light bulbs have gone missing. “Electric wires are hanging dangerously low at the end. Only two days back two cows had a miraculous escape when they touched the naked wires,” said a visitor. Complaining about cleanliness, another person said, “No one bothers to keep the place clean… so you find garbage everywhere.” The situation of SCP at Koel Nagar is not any better. The park has become a safe haven for drug addicts and after sundown, it turns into an open bar. A major portion of the park goes dark in the evening. “I preferred to come in the evening earlier. Now I don’t feel safe here,” said a middle-aged lady. The tiles on a majority of the benches are broken and pose a real danger. A few days back an old lady had to get four stitches on her left hand as she mistakenly pressed her hand on the sharp edge of tiles on one of the benches.
Former RMC commissioner Subhankar Mohapatra, during the Hockey World Cup, had informed that each of the parks, NSFP and SCP, would get Rs 2 crore for maintenance and improvement, and work would begin immediately after the completion of the game. Speaking about the parks, Priyabrata Mohapatra, the in-charge officer of RMC for parks said, “Soon the heights of the parks’ boundaries will be increased, else we cannot stop the thefts of taps, fittings and light bulbs.”