Mohd. Yousuf
Port Blair, Jan 13: The dilapidated children’s park near Wimberly Gunj junction has become an eyesore for people living in the area.
The park was inaugurated on 1st March 1999 by the then Member of Parliament Mr. Manoranjan Bhaktha. The park was one of many master plans to equip rural areas and far flung villages with basic infrastructures and all modern necessities under the MPLAD scheme.
An area of more than five acres which was converted to children’s recreation and play facilities with all amenities now wears a deserted look. The park now with full of bushes and creepers, has turned into an ideal hang out place for stray dogs and other domestic animals.
The park once used to be an evening hangout place for children and for their family members, is now in a piteous condition and the worst part is that no one complains about the hard earned tax-payers’ money, which has gone waste for the park.
Its been 12 long years since the park was inaugurated but not even a single repair work was carried out inside the park till now, sources confirmed.
This shows that how responsible the administration is and how sensitive the people are towards this kind of money wastage.
The park that took more than 4 years to build and cost a hell lot of money now needs an urgent makeover. “People here are so busy with their daily routine that nobody bothers about such issues which has less impact on people directly” said Mr. Anand; a senior citizen of Wimberlygunj area.
When Andaman Sheekha started investigating into the matter, it was learnt that there is a confusion over the ownership of the land. Nobody could tell Andaman Sheekha team about which agency actually owns the land it is APWD or Forest Department. Moreover no one is sure about who will actually carryout the maintenance work of the park. It would be surprising to know for many people that after the park got inaugurated; as per the rule the park has to be handed over to any of the maintenance agencies, like APWD or Zilla Parishad but when we contacted the Executive Engineer of Andaman public work department Mr. Pushparaj refused to comment on this matter saying that he has no idea about the park and directed us to some other section for information, where there was no one responsible to answer to the questions.
Later for the land issue when Andaman Sheekha contacted the assistant conservator of forest Mr. T.K. Mathew to know the truth regarding the piteous condition of the park and ownership issue of the park, Mr. Mathew said that the forest department does not own the land, adding that there is a confusion even within the higher officials regarding the ownership of the land. If this is what the officials has to say about this matter then who is authorised to address this issue which is more like a mystery now for people of Wimberly Gunj.
