COIMBATORE: A children’s park in Race Course, which was developed under the Smart City project two years ago, is in bad shape with most of the equipment found to be defective, causing injuries to children.
The park has more than 20 equipment which became damaged one after the other since adults started occupying the play area. The workers who maintain the park dismantle the faulty equipment whenever an accident occurs.
Around 7 p.m. on Sunday, a six-year-old boy was seriously injured while playing on a spinner bowl as the seat was broken. The child was taken to a hospital by his parents. During the night, many children were playing on the same equipment without knowing it was damaged. Following this, parents filed a series of complaints over the faulty equipment in the park.
“Most of the equipment is damaged and dangerous for children. The crawl tube, tiny house, hopping pads, and spring riders are among those favoured by children. But these are often occupied by college students,” Sharanya Ravi, a parent said.
“Ropes were disconnected in the fitscape maps. It has around six parts connected to each other and children climb it from wherever they can. But most of the parts are damaged and the ropes connected to the climbing portions pose a threat,” said another parent.
Further, chains of the dragon swing are broken as it is mostly occupied by adults even though it is meant for children under the age of 12. To prevent damage to equipment, parents have been insisting on strengthening the surveillance and deployment of security guards.
CCMC commissioner M Prathap told TNIE that preventing adults from occupying the children’s play area is a big task. We have been repairing the equipment frequently but they get broken soon. I will instruct the officials to address the issue immediately, he said.