Several parks across all three sectors of Salt Lake that had been lying in a state of neglect with defunct lights and play furniture have been refurbished by the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation.
The Salt Lake civic body started revamping the parks after Durga Puja and now, several have new lights and furniture, swings, slides and merry-go-rounds.
The Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation is the custodian of the parks and is in charge of maintaining them.
This newspaper had reported on multiple occasions how the parks that once used to be popular hangout zones for residents and play areas for children had fallen into complete disrepair.
Open-air gyms have also come up in a few of the parks because residents of all age groups visit them.
Nearly all of them have been cleared of weeds and creepers and some of them have had fresh layers of grass laid on them.
In CK Block, the park next to tank number 9 has been done up with new LED lights and play furniture in one of the sections. Another section has open-air workout equipment.
The IA Block park, too, has been revamped in Sector III, opposite the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre.
The park now features a high-fencing around it to ensure that football and cricket balls don’t land up outside it. The children’s section has new play furniture and the whole park has been lit up using LED and high-mast halogen lights.
Krishna Chakraborty, mayor of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, said that they had undertaken the initiative because parks were an integral part of the township.
“We want to make parks a place where people can relax after they return home from work and have children leave their smartphones at home and come out to play. Parks play an integral part in community building,” Chakraborty said.
There are plans afoot to run football and cricket coaching camps there, an official of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation’s parks and lighting department said.