A park in CG Block, on the southern Major Arterial Road, adjacent to Balaka Abasan, has become a favourite haunt of children and their parents. The park, measuring about 0.7 acre, is fitted with various playthings and educative equipment that can cater to children, both with and without physical challenges.
Named Ananda Mela, it is an inclusive sensory park built at Green Verge 15 as a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative of LTIMindtree, supported by New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) and implemented by CBM India Trust.
“They had asked us for land. The park has come off well,” said an NKDA official.
Children play with sand at the sensory park. (Right) Inclusive swings, some of which are wheelchair-compatible.
The company has built a similar park in Bangalore two years ago. “There was a need for people with disabilities to have a space for themselves. There is no garden, no play area. We shared our idea and were given an acre at Cubbon Park, which is a state-run park in Bangalore. We built a park there with special equipment for children. That came out very well, so we thought we should make such parks in other cities as well. That’s how we came to Calcutta,” said Paneesh Rao, the chief sustainability officer of LTIMindtree.
The team chose the particular green patch as it was a densely residential area. The experience of building the park in Bangalore also came in handy. “The Calcutta park has come off better than the Bangalore one. We have added a toilet block both for those with and without challenges. There is a feeding and diaper change room for young mothers and a first-aid room. There is also a security room and closed-circuit cameras,” he said.
A child plays with noughts and crosses gear at the park and (right) crawls out of a tunnel mound.
Fruit-bearing trees have also been planted along the periphery. “We have planted mango, guava and other fruit trees without thorns, which will also provide welcome shade in summer months,” Rao added.
The park has rubber foam flooring so that children do not hurt themselves even if they fall down.
It is divided into three zones — sensory play area, inclusive play area and open amphitheatre. The amphitheatre at one end of the park is designed for children to give a performance for a small audience seated in a gallery setting. “We thought if the parents make a small group and want their children to put up a small performance which they want to sit and enjoy, there should space for that too,” Rao said.
All the play equipments installed in this park are inclusive and are designed for children with and without disabilities. Most have guard rails so that special children have support when they use them. “People who are on wheelchairs also want to swing. So we have installed a swing into which a wheelchair can go in. You don’t have to get out of the wheelchair and can swing normally,” Rao said. Another is a mother-and-child swing, which can be operated by the mother and they can swing together.
Most of the equipment, like inclusive swing and inclusive merry-go-round, are imported from Europe, the builders say. “We have designed it in such a way that children can play together and special children are not made to feel segregated from the mainstream,” Rao pointed out.
(From left) A child tries out an abacus at the inclusive sensory park; Children try out the climbing gear at the inclusive sensory park; Boards with alphabets and figures in Braille at the inclusive sensory park
There are multi-dimensional charts with alphabets and numbers in Braille for children with visual impairment. There are other educational tools like an abacus to teach them to do sums and a model of the solar system.
The footfall is about 150 everyday, crossing 300 in the weekends, the gatekeepers say. “We did not expect so much crowd. There is no place to play for children within a 2km radius,” Rao smiled.
The park involved an investment of about Rs 3-3.5 crore investment. “The arch, the fountain, the CCTV cameras, the gazebo, the pergolas, the amphitheatre, the equipment... it is an expensive park,” he pointed out.
Work on the park finished in October but it is only this winter that parents are discovering it. “This is a very well-equipped park. We are lucky that this has come up so close by,” said Mehbur Rahaman of Balaka Abasan, who had come with his four-year-old daughter Mehreen.
Akansha Bera had discovered the park within two days of settling in their CD Block house this January. “This is a wonderful place to bring my two-year-old son to. He can even revise his alphabets here,” she smiled. The park is also drawing visitors from outside the neighbourhood. “It is some distance from our area but still I plan to bring Sanvi here on my holidays,” said Abhishek Shah of DF Block.
The Telegraph Salt Lake also spotted a family from Garia with two children, which had come to New Town on a long drive and stopped on spotting the park.
Have you been to the new park? Write to saltlake@abp.in