Indore: Kids in slums, disgusted with the miserable conditions in their area created by drunkards and weed-smokers, on Sunday, demanded that Indore Smart City Development Limited help them to get rid of such elements at a programme, ‘Funday Wala Sunday’, organised under the Nurturing Neighbourhood in Smart City Mission.
The kids and their parents, who are residents of an underprivileged area near Arjunpura Garden in front of Lalbagh Palace, were invited to the programme organised on Sunday morning. At the programme, when the kids were asked about the problems they faced in their locality, they shouted, saying they were troubled by the presence of anti-social elements in the area. The kids told Smart City officials that there were many people of their locality who smoked weed in the park and drank alcohol, because of which they felt scared to enter the park in the evening.
They also demanded that the ISCDL install some swings in the park, besides increasing the height of the wall at the side of the Kanh river as they were concerned that children might fall off the wall onto the riverside. When the kids’ parents told the officials that there was no policing in the area, they ducked the question and told them to stick to children’s welfare-related points and not any other civic problems.
In the garden, the ISCDL has made several swings using scraps, such as old pieces of wooden furniture and old truck tyres. The ISCDL has drawn alphabets and numericals in Hindi and English along the walking track of the garden so that the children can read them while playing. Chess boards and other indoor games have also been made on the tracks. Smart City has also made a seesaw and slide for the kids. Over 150 children of the slum were present at the programme.
Sprucing up the garden. | FPJ
