The Eesan Ramamurthy Memorial Park for Children at Karthikeyapuram Sixth Street in Madipakkam does not have anything to call it a ‘park.’ In fact, it is “used” only by the cattle for grazing besides occasionally doubling up as a dumpyard for solid municipal waste.
According to local residents, the park that was inaugurated in 2000 soon fell into disuse owing to official apathy. “There is no maintenance at all. In fact, there is nothing here to maintain. A park is supposed to have pathways for walkers, benches to sit, greenery, proper illumination and a play area for children. Do you find anything here?,” asked V Hariharan a resident..
Pointing out that the entire neighbourhood of Madipakkam has only a few parks, several other residents said even these few parks do not have proper facilities.
“We live in an apartment complex. There is no open space or parks for our children to play in Madipakkam. Hence, we are forced to go to parks in Adambakkam that are situated 3 to 4 kilometres away,” said P Ravikumar, a resident of New Kubera Nagar, abutting Karthikeyapuram.Asked about the sad state of affairs, Uma Thiagarajan, Chennai Corporation Councillor of Ward 187 said the Karthikeyapuram park would be developed soon. “It will have all the facilities, including play equipment for children,” she said and added that a comprehensive plan to develop all the parks of the locality is in place.