Parks in Salt Lake that are popular hangouts for residents, as well as children who go out to play, and are venues for Durga pujas are in a sorry state with defunct lights and tall weeds.

The parks in Salt Lake are managed by the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation and have fallen into a dismal state with creepers and weeds growing on play equipment like swings and slides. Cattle can be spotted grazing inside the parks across the township.

The civic body had in 2015 cleaned and decked out the parks in all three sectors spending more than Rs 30 lakh.

Six years later, most of them are in such a state that residents don’t step inside once darkness sets in. The grounds of almost all the parks are covered in creepers and tall weeds and children’s rides such as seesaws, swings and merry-go-rounds lie in tatters. The lights are either defunct or they fail to illuminate the entire premises.

At HB Park, for instance, a portion of the guardwall and a lamp post that was broken during Cyclone Amphan in 2020 has still not been repaired and the pole of the streetlight hangs dangerously over the road.

Weeds and unkempt grass in GD Park. Pictures by Snehal Sengupta

Several trident lights have been broken in a park inside FD Block and most of the lights became defunct months ago. Some of the lamp posts have electrical wires sticking out dangerously.

At GD Park, there are no swings, only tall weeds coupled with dumped construction waste greeting visitors who are bold enough to step inside.

The civic body had dumped soil inside the park to level the ground and mounds of earth that were not levelled out properly can still be seen. In fact, walking inside is next to impossible without stumbling or slipping due to the uneven ground.

CK-CL Park overrun with wild growth.

At DB Park, a swing hangs lopsided as one of the chains snapped because of lack of maintenance, residents said. A rusted iron pole stands at the spot where a monkey-bar once stood.

Sections of FD Park, a resident said, plunges into darkness every evening. “Many of the lights do not work properly. We feel unsafe to take a walk in the park after sunset,” said Ayantika Nath, a 21-year-old Jadavpur University student.

Not a single child was spotted in AD Block Park despite the presence of colourful swings, slides and merry-go-rounds. None works and many of them are broken. “The children’s section of the park has at least 10 rides. All of them stopped working because of lack of maintenance,” a resident said.

The broken base of a merry-go-round lies hidden under overgrown grass and anyone can trip over it and get injured. The merry-go-round itself lies overturned near the wall.

A civic body official said that with the dissolution of the board the maintenance of the parks has taken a back seat. “To add to this, many of our labourers are not reporting for work regularly due to Covid-19. We need to prepare a detailed study before we can do any repair work,” said the official.

While the existing parks are in a sorry state, a new one was inaugurated in CK Block on the main road near Tank 9 by the board of administrators chairperson Krishna Chakraborty and other members of the board recently. “We have already started a deweeding drive and will soon spruce up the other parks as well,” promised Chakraborty.

Are you happy with the state of your neighbourhood park/ Green Verge? Write to The Telegraph Salt Lake, 6 Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta 700001 or email to saltlake@abp.in