The New Town authorities have backtracked and decided not to take any fees from residents of the township for using parks and playgrounds in their blocks during any time of the day.
The decision was taken after a group of residents’ representatives met senior New Town Kolkata Development Authority officials at the NKDA Bhavan on Friday.
A senior NKDA official said they made it clear to the residents that they would not be asked to pay any fees if they wanted to visit the parks and playgrounds beyond the free access hours.
The NKDA had fixed charges for using some of the township’s parks for group activities like playing games.
On Friday, a senior NKDA official said they would only take hiring fees from those running soccer training camps or other sports training sessions, from corporate companies and other organisations who want to hold tournaments at the parks.
“We will closely monitor activities through representatives from adjacent blocks to avoid misuse of the playgrounds and parks. The hiring fees raised will be used only for maintenance work,” the official said.
NKDA chairman Debashis Sen said the fee would mostly be levied on corporate bodies and other private organisations who want to use the grounds. “We want to collect the fee mainly from corporate bodies and other private organisations,” he said.
Signboards had been put up in several parks saying that the New Town authorities have decided to take a ‘hiring charge’ of Rs 500 for using a block park or playground from 8.30am to 6pm and post-9pm. The hiring charge has been fixed at Rs 500 per match or for a maximum of three hours.
After the signboards were put up, residents sought a meeting with senior NKDA officials. Many residents felt paying to use and visit parks and playgrounds beyond stipulated hours was not justified.
Another NKDA official said they had conducted a survey and found that many private organisations and block committees were running training camps but not paying fees.
There are eight large playgrounds developed by the NKDA that have advanced drainage systems and high-fencing on their perimeters. These playgrounds are in blocks DA, DB, DC, BA, BC, AL and CB and one is located opposite the NKDA administrative office next to Rabindra Tirtha in Block DF.
Samaresh Das, of residents’ body New Town Forum and News, said they had requested NKDA officials to extend the timings for morning walkers and joggers.
“We have made a request to let people use the parks for two hours more in the morning and evening,” said Das.
The NKDA official said they had made it clear to the residents that any commercial activity on the playgrounds was banned.