Playgrounds turned into garbage dumps

BANGALORE: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” is a well-known proverb which indicates the importance of sports among the children. But this proverb does not go well with the children
(Left) Children playing at the playground. (Right) Broken benches in the playground| express photo
(Left) Children playing at the playground. (Right) Broken benches in the playground| express photo

BANGALORE: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” is a well-known proverb which indicates the importance of sports among the children. But this proverb does not go well with the children of Murphy Town.

Murphy Town which is one of the oldest towns built by the British has nine small playgrounds. Of the nine grounds, most of them have turned into a mini-dumping yard and is serving all other purpose rather than what it was mainly built for.

The playground at Murphy Town in Jayarajnagar was used by some residents to dry their clothes. The other ground named ‘9th Square-Udyanavana’ was used by a construction worker to bend the iron rods.

The playgrounds which have a walking track was completely inundated with mud, garbage and other wastes. When we spoke to the nearby residents, they said, “The playground lacks any maintenance. With the onset of summer vacation, every child in the locality will obviously have nothing to do but play”.

“But how can we send our children to these  playgrounds which do not have any maintenance ?” questioned the residents.

When we sought Hoysala Nagar corporator, Savitha Ramesh’s on the poor maintenance of playground, she said “We have taken several measures to develop the playgrounds but all failed to yearn fruitful results”.

When probed further, she said that a section of residents want the playgrounds to be renovated while some do not wish so. “About 4,500 to 6,000 people are residing in Murphy Town. Of these families, most of them work as painters, house-maids and are involved in other petty businesses. They are using the ground for their personal purposes. They dump  garbage, they string ropes for drying their clothes”.

But some section of residents want the ground to be developed and maintained well. Savitha further said that the development works were also hindered by some residents who did not wish for its development.

The Corporator said that she will take up the issue once again with the BBMP Engineering and Horticulture Department to develop and maintain the playgrounds once again. “I will ask the concerned Joint Engineer to look into the matter, meanwhile, I will seek funds for the developmental works too”.

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