BHUBANESWAR: The Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) has started the restoration work of Capital City’s major parks that had been damaged by cyclone Fani on May 3.“The civic body has deployed 10 JCBs and more than 200 workers to revive the major parks,” BDA officials said, adding, “The entire team is working on mission mode to revive the greenery which the city lost in the cyclone.”
The officials said 10 major parks having 5 acres or more land each are being revived initially. These parks include Biju Patnaik Park, Indira Gandhi Park, Buddha Jayanti Park, Mahatma Gandhi Park, Kelucharan Mohapatra Park, Kharvel Park, Madhusudan Das Park, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Park, K8 Kalinga Nagar Park and Shyama Prasad Mukharjee Park.
During the severe cyclonic storm Fani, all the parks were devastated and the infrastructures damaged, officials said. However, they said the walking and jogging tracks, open air gymnasiums and kids’ play areas have been restored after removal of debris.
The BDA has cleared around 200 truckloads of fallen trees and broken branches from Biju Patnaik Park alone. Efforts are on to restore the 10 major parks immediately, while other parks will be restored in a phased manner, the officials said.
There are over 120 parks across the city. While BDA has 57 parks, the remaining 63 are being managed by the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation.
Meanwhile, the residents have urged the BDA to restore the parks at the earliest. Poonam Parida, a student, said, “I am happy that we are able to use the open air gym even after the cyclone. The civic body should also take immediate measures to restore the lost greenery.”
Nrupakishore Patnaik, a senior citizen from Pokhariput said, “The city lost over 50 per cent of big trees and many plantations. The park authorities should plan more saplings to revive the lost greenery.”