Several residents of New Town have written to the township authorities requesting them to keep parks and playgrounds open till at least 9.30pm.
The New Town Forum and News — a residents’ body in the area — has sent a letter to the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA), which is the custodian of all parks in all three action areas. The parks in the township open at 5am and are shut by 8pm.
New Town has a large population of working people and several residents told this newspaper that their work does not get over before 8.30pm.
According to them, they cannot access the parks for a walk after dinner or a game after work because of the park’s timings.
In the letter, the New Town Forum and News has requested the authorities to extend the hours keeping in mind that people have jobs and cannot go to play or walk in the parks because of the timings.
“We have a lot of people staying here who are work late. Most of them are unable to gain access to the parks and playgrounds because of the current timings,” said Samaresh Das, the chairman of New Town Forum and News.
Several professionals from various fields, including aviation, IT and medicine among others, have supported the plea.
According to Das, they have also requested the authorities to hire and deploy security personnel at the parks.
“We don’t want to restrict the entry of anybody in the parks. However, having security guards will ensure that no untoward incident takes place,” Das added.
NKDA has also decided to run coaching of different sports, including football, cricket and karate, at the parks.
The letter sent by the residents’ forum has also asked the authorities to ensure that the fees were kept nominal.
“Training of talented yet underprivileged children must be provided free of cost as we want to encourage budding talents from here,” said a resident of BC block.
Acknowledging that he had received the letter, NKDA chairman Debashis Sen said that they would soon have a meeting with the residents to figure out an action plan.
“We will take all suggestions into account. It is a fact that there is a large section of residents here who work in different companies. We will definitely keep their needs in mind,” said Sen.
There are multiple parks and playgrounds in New Town and eight of them have been transformed into sports arenas with well-laid grass and fence.
