| Mubarak Mandi's park in shambles, Floriculture deptt in deep slumber | | |  G S Asgotra
Early Times Report
Jammu, Apr 25: The well-maintained parks adjacent to MLA quarters and ministers' bungalows of Gandhi Nagar locality give a pleasant look, but the historical Mubarak Mandi's park is in shambles because of negligence of Floriculture department.
A contrast between the well-maintained parks of Gandhi Nagar and park of Mubarak Mandi, which house the rich Dogra heritage, is enough to expose tall claims of the department and Minister Floriculture Priya Sethi who belongs to the same locality.
The only oldest park of Old City near the Archive Department which caters to hundreds of morning and evening walkers especially aged persons, has become a dumping site for building material.
On Wednesday, when this correspondent visited the park, a group of aged persons who are regular visitors to this park were busy in chatting under a tree in scorching heat. Talking to Early Times they said that on name of renovation, the department of Floriculture had bulldozed the statue of "Father of Nation" three years ago which had been erected by previous government.
"But ironically neither the department renovated it nor removed the dumped concrete material from the site in three years. As a result the morning and evening walkers are facing difficulties due to blockage of pathway," said Vijay Kumar, a retired officer from the NHPC.
Another jogger, Ashok Kumar, a former official of Public Health Department, expressed his anguish over the slow pace of renovation work. He said a major portion of the park is closed for visitors, yoga aspirants, children and old persons who regularly visit there. "It is sheer wastage of public exchequer which is being drained on the name of renovation," Kumar said.
"Children used to come here along with their parents and played near the statue of "Father of Nation". Some of them often eagerly asked their parents who is the man pointing towards Mahatma Gandhi's statue. The parents used to tell them that Gandhiji liberated the nation from the British slavery. Hence, a visit to this park served as a lesson in history to the young generation," said M L Sharma, a retired official from the Handicrafts department.
"Sadly, the statue was bulldozed, and the site has become a dumping ground for construction material," said Sharma. He claimed that under a "well-planned conspiracy the statue of Father of Nation was removed from here and no politician raised objection."
A retired Engineer, A K Jain said that a limited portion of park, thrown open for visitors, is in a dilapidated condition due to negligence of officials of the department concerned as green grass is getting dry due to hot weather and nobody irrigates it.
"This park is facing step motherly treatment as compared to other parks of Gandhi Nagar," said a local businessman Om Parkash. |
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