The Indira Nagar park is in dire need of maintenance. There is a lot of undergrowth and mounds of dry leaves accumulated at many places, attracting mosquitoes and other deadly species. The residents of Indira Nagar and Venkatratnam Nagar Extension have submitted several requests (since Dec. 2021), signed by many users of the park, to the Regional Deputy Commissioner – South and the Zonal Officer – Zone 13, for action on the issues. The latest letter was submitted in April 2023, however, action is still awaited. Notwithstanding, a complaint has also been raised in the GCC’s online complaint website by C.Namachivayam. Below are extracts of the letter submitted highlighting the issues to be addressed:
At the outset, we are glad and gratified that GCC is very actively engaged in the establishment and maintenance of various Corporation parks in the city. We hereby wish to bring to your kind attention the various issues prevailing in Indira Nagar park for more than one and a half years putting the park users to lots of inconvenience and safety hazards.
Following are the various issues to be addressed.
• The toilets are not functional, thus putting the public to inconvenience, especially senior citizens.
• The exercise equipment is in need of maintenance. The base of the swing equipment is also rubbing against the floor, posing a safety hazard. Overhead roofs need to be provided for the exercise section as bird droppings on the handles and seats make them unusable.
• Garden waste has been lying in heaps at several locations for several years and needs to be cleared. Once a snake, seeking refuge under the leaves was noticed by a resident. They are breeding mosquitoes and give a poor impression of the park. The dead leaves should be removed to a compost site.
• Many concrete seats in the park are tilted / sloping and thus not fit for sitting. They need to be placed on a level ground. Also many open seats need to be sheltered from bird droppings. Another issue is that most of the seats are away from the paved area and one needs to get down from the pavement to access the seats, thus making it difficult for the senior citizens to access them.
• At two locations, trees are leaning on the compound wall / grill and are likely to damage it. The park flora also need to be trimmed / pruned to ensure – health of the trees and reduce any damage to the walls and other public property. There are two dead trees and many dead tree stumps that need to be removed. One of the dead trees is leaning on another tree near the compound. If the trees fall towards the compound, they would cause severe damage to the EB transformer near the compound, leading to a major accident.
• In some places of the footpath, the tiles have been replaced with bright red tiles with round markings. These tiles are found to be very slippery especially when wet, posing serious hazards of a fall, and injury for the park users. These tiles should be replaced by rough surface tiles similar to the ones initially used.
• GCC is driving the tree planting initiative very strongly. If small name boards can be provided for various trees in the park, it will create awareness among the visitors to safeguard them and understand their value.
• Children exercise equipment such as the slide that got damaged when a tree fell on it, needs to be replaced.
• During the rainy season, water stagnates inside the park like a pond for many days leading to breeding of mosquitoes and making the open spaces unusable. Drains have to be provided for releasing this water into the SWD outside the park.
• The lane connecting the park entrance with Indira Nagar Main Road gets waterlogged during rains forcing residents to step on tiles and bricks to cross the pool or to take a long roundabout route either to reach the park or the main road. The floor of the lane needs levelling to allow the water to drain away.
