Staff Correspondent
Port Blair, Nov 04: At Mathura Village of South Andaman, inside the campus of Mathura Government Primary School, one can find nearly half-a-dozens of equipments installed for amusement of children, resting in peace. According to reports these equipments are lying unused for since last many months inside the campus. However, when Andaman Sheekha Correspondent visited the area, neither the Pradhan nor anyone from the primary school, was available for a comment.
Hi Sanjib, this story reminds me of a similar report published while I was working with Late Shri. Sanathanan of Andaman Herald way back in 1997. We, as a family happened to visit Gandhi Park one evening. I remember the’ Laughing Clown’ installed by the IP&T inside the park (Unsure if it is still there). It so happened that due to lack of maintenance, the laughing clown would not ‘laugh’ regardless how many coins are inserted (I lost a couple of coins too). Standing there and watching for a while, I noticed that visitors were getting frustrated with the ‘Laughing Clown’ as it wouldn’t laugh, and it became very difficult for the parents to console their kids who gathered there in much anticipation of having fun with the Laughing Clown.
I found a story in this incident and it was published in the next days issue of Andaman He
rald with the caption”Laughing Clown leaving children weep”.
The story attracted the attention of the then Hon’ble Lt Governor His Excellency Vakkom Purushothaman. Believe it or not, the Hon’ble Lt Governor made his appearance in front of ‘The Laughing Clown’. Having experienced the reality himself, the Lt. Governor summoned the Director of IP&T (I think at about 6-7 a.m) to Gandhi Park, and instructed the Director IP&T to FIX the problem on war foot. The news story had a great impact.
Lot of recreation and amusement equipment is procured by the Government Departments but not well maintained leaving the equipment to ‘Rust’ in ‘Pieces”.
Hope your story attracts the attention of the concerned authorities. Good luck.