Despite renovation work in process, Mulund Garden open for public!
It is summer vacation time and children are thronging playgrounds and gardens to chill out the exam stress and relax. However, children residing near Pandit Dindayal Upadhyaya Road in Mulund West are in a fix. No, it is not that they do have a garden in their region, but the problem is that Siddharth Garden in their region is under renovation and, despite the renovation work going on, the civic authorities have kept the garden open, thus inviting trouble for little children. Home Times Team visited Siddharth Garden to take a reality check.
According to the locals who visit Siddharth Garden daily, the garden is in a pathetic condition and lacks basic facilities. The benches are broken. The few benches that look satisfactory are, in fact, so weak that people cannot sit on them. If somebody sits on them then there is every chance that the bench may collapse. The worst affected are the children, because the play equipment for children like the slide, merry-go-round, etc., are in a mess. There are no swings, which are the favourite of the children. Hence, the children living in the vicinity are disappointed and dejected.
Savita Bade, a local resident, told Home Times, “The garden is near my house, hence my children are keen to play in the same garden. But, I have to prevent them from going to the garden as the playing equipment in the garden are in a junk state and can pose hazards to children.” Angry over the garden been open despite repair work in process, she protested, “Until the renovation work was not completed the civic body should not have kept the garden open. Many children throng the garden and with renovation work going around, the children are at risk of an accident.”
A senior citizen couple lamented, “The garden has no facilities for senior citizens. There are no benches which are in good condition to sit, neither there is any facility for drinking water. Secondly, it is the duty of the contractor to store the material required for the renovation work inside the garden, but the contractor has kept the material on the footpath outside the garden!! Due to this many senior citizens like us are facing inconvenience to walk. Even little kids can fall and get injured!”
When Home Times spoke to the watchman of the garden, he said that the renovation work of the garden has started since the past 20 days and soon the garden will be ready and equipped with playing tools. However, the local residents argue that if the garden work is in the process then the civic body should have closed the garden.
Home Times, in its survey, also detected that the garden does not have the facility of dustbins for segregation of dry and wet waste. If the plight of an important public garden like Siddharth Garden is so pitiable, what about the many more public places in Mulund that need regular maintenance and repairs? Alas, the lethargic BMC is least bothered!!
