CF Park in Ward 31 continues to languish in neglect. And with the buck being passed, it is unclear whose responsibility the park's maintenance is.
Right from the entry from the side opposite BF Park, grass has grown wild and blocks half of the width of the gate, leaving only a narrow trampled path to walk on.
The path leads to a cemented circular walking track, large stretches of which are strewn with a thick carpet of dry leaves. Unkempt vegetation has grown rampant and reached waist-high or even shoulder-high length in places. A gazebo built in the space inside the circular track has become unreachable, being partly hidden from sight by the height of wild grass. Plastic packets lie here and there at the base of a clump of golden bamboo stems. A cement bag full of construction rubbish lies at a side.
In the edition dated September 16, 2022, The Telegraph Salt Lake had reported on the state of the park after a snake had entered the ground floor of a house adjoining the park creating panic and had escaped back.
Fallen leaves strewn on the cemented walkway
A pathway covered with wild growth. Pictures by Sudeshna Banerjee
“Before the Pujas, we had approached our MLA and the park got cleared at his intervention. So we could hold the puja in the park. But since then, its condition has again deteriorated without maintenance,” said Gora Ray, secretary of Salt Lake CF Block Residents' Association.
The open space surrounding the community hall is maintained by the block committee. But the park extends on both sides. On one side, there is a senior citizens’ park, a football ground and a children's park. On the other side, there is a theme park which was abandoned midway. Both sides are in disarray but the theme park side more so.
On February 21, the association met the local councilor, Sabyasachi Dutta, the chairman of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, who they say used to maintain the park well in his earlier stint as councillor.
“I have forwarded their list to the mayor (who also holds the parks and gardens portfolio) on the same day when they gave it to me. They gave a deputation to the mayor. It is upto the mayor now. I am not aware of any further responsibility of the councillor,” Dutta told The Telegraph Salt Lake.
The residents met the mayor Krishna Chakraborty on March 9. “She promised to look into the matter but told us it was the councillor’s job,” Roy said.
A senior official of the BMC pointed out that each councilor had the manpower to get such jobs done. “There are 40-42 workers deputed for the ward. It is the councillor's job to utilise their services judiciously. So it should be tackled at his level,” the official claimed.
A thorny issue is the block committee wanting two sweepers to be appointed for the upkeep of the park. “It is not possible to make such exclusive deployments,” the official said.
But the residents would be too happy to get back the use of the park to stand inflexible on finer points. “It is beyond us to figure out why this park is being neglected like this. We are hopeful that the mayor and the chairman will do the needful before long,” said Ray.
Their other suggestions for the park's upkeep include regular pruning of branches, CCTV installation, better illumination to guard against immoral activities at night and installation of gates to keep out motorcycles which use the park as a short-cut.
Write to saltlake@abp.in