Coal town residents missing the newly developed facilities of Golf Ground in Dhanbad, including the open gymnasium, children playing arena, jogging track, yoga centre since over a week due to the final round of the renovation of the ground will be able to enjoy the same from December 29, as chief minister Hemant Soren will inaugurate the newly developed park as a new year gift to Dhanbad.

Unlike the existing free arrangement, visitors however will have to pay a nominal charge as entry ticket for the park.

Talking to the media, Satyendra Kumar, Dhanbad Municipal Commissioner, said, “Besides the extensive renovation of the park we have also carried out development in the surrounding areas also as the encroachment lying in the approach road to the park from Hirapur Hatia side have been removed and we have further plans to developed the area into a green zone to add to aesthetic beauty of the park.”

“Only a nominal charge will be fixed as entry fee while and we will be also carrying out further development in the park as part of the second phase of development work,” said Kumar.

Notably, the extensive renovation and beautification of the park have been carried out by Dhanbad Municipal Corporation as part of phase I of development under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme of central government to provide basic amenities like water supply, sewerage, urban transport and parks to improve the quality of life of all especially the poor and the disadvantaged.

Inside view of the Golf Ground Gautam Dey

Notably, the ground spread over 12 acres of area less than 500 metre away from district headquarters was previously used as a golf course during the British era and later developed into a shooting range.

Shooting practice however was shopped in late 1970s and the ground was used by morning walkers till 1990s after which a proper boundary wall was developed around the park and pavilion was developed in 2001.

As part of renovation and beautification work carried out by DMC at a cost of Rs 4.48 crore construction of a jogging track, skating zone, yoga platform, meditation platform, green zone have been done but the centres of attraction of the park are children playing arena and open gymnasium.

As part of the open gymnasium, a host of equipment including, double surfing post, double wheel shoulder builder, elliptical exerciser, leg press cum air walker, double standing twister have been installed while in the children playing area wide range of equipments like swing, slider, lunar slider, jungle gym and a magic carpet have been installed.