BHOPAL : The gate of the Jawahar Bal Udyan at Link Road Number 2 looks any other park. But enter inside and instead of kids playing and adults relaxing in the Sun, one find young boys playing cards and gambling. People living opposite the park avoid visiting the place and do not let their children play there in the evenings.
Apart from gambling, the small pond inside the park is used for fishing by the locals. With stray dogs and cows roaming in the park, it is usually dirty. Situated near the park is a Jain temple. The caretaker of the temple Devnath Jain said, “You will find these people gambling here daily and in the winters, they spend most part of the day here, enjoying the warm Sun”.
Shakun Jain
“We don’t go there at all in winters. In summers we do go to in the evenings but always in a group. During the day, boys keep playing cricket and cards. So we neither allow the kids to go there nor do we take them there. There is no one to take care of the park. Also, there are no swings for children to play and in the name of lawn, there is patch of dry grass”.
Raj Kumar Singh, who is a regular visitor to the park,
“I come here just to feed the fishes. The condition of the park remains the same round the year. People do not come here as it is crowded with gamblers and anti-social elements all through the day. Once in a blue moon, sanitation workers turn up to clean it. Otherwise, it is always filthy and dirty”
Asha Singh, who lives opposite the park
“I don’t allow my grand children to go there and play in the evenings. In summers, some people come to the park in the evenings but in winters almost nobody comes. We ensure that if kids visit the park, an adult accompanies them,”
Anita Kushwaha
“We once complained to the police van passing by. They shooed away the miscreants at that time but nothing happened after that. During the day people come there for fishing in the pond inside. And there is no one to clean it also”.
