At Moti Nagar, even the barren patch of kids under threat

NEW DELHI: Rajat Bhalla is 12, diminutive and hugely opinionated. He doesn’t approve of shrubbery planted in the park between blocks D and 18 and opposite Block 19 in Moti Nagar. His group of eight kids — all staying in different parts of Moti Nagar — is forced to come to this one. Barred from other parks that have been ornamented with flowerbeds and gazebos, this is the only one in the vicinity, they say, where kids are still allowed to play.And they are willing to do anything to retain their right to play.
This Moti Nagar park is subject of a bitter dispute. It used to be one big park till about seveneight years ago and was divided into two halves. One half was developed and landscaped with a jogging track and plenty of shrubs and flowers. Kids and games were banished from this flourishing, green patch. The other half towards block D wasn’t touched. Residents want this part developed too.
But the kids don’t. They want aflat piece of land where they can get together after school. "Everybody tells us to go from here. Twothree days back, an uncle threatened to call the police. We’ll move the Supreme Court if they try to stop us," says Bhalla.
Residents have their reasons for wanting the games to be stopped. One of them claims to have a collection of cricket balls that came crashing through the window panes. A few days ago, a child was injured and bleeding when a ball hit her on the back of her head and another resident was hit on the ear, they say.
MCD corporator Ved Prakash Gupta has received several complaints. This time from a group of 150 residents who want the park to be left as it is. "There is a rift among the residents on the status of the park," says Gupta, "One half was developed and the other half left as a playground. There is need for one where the children can play." So where, indeed, can they can play? No one has the answer.
Residents say the park is routinely used for holding a variety of programmes like bhajans and satsangs. It gets noisy and dirty. Outsiders gather here, drink and even urinate near the boundary walls. "We want this to stop. And we want greenery. MCD gardeners had planted 300 plants here, but they’ve all been uprooted," said a resident. They made several appeals to the MCD and the local MLA. Remedial steps were promised, but the only one taken was undone. "It’s the tent-wallahs. There are going to be the biggest losers if the park is developed and religious programmes are banned," said a resident.
They also point out that even as a playground, the park isn’t up to scratch. Unattended, the ground is pockmarked and dug up in places. Gutka wrappers are strewn about. A swing set was installed in December and then taken away just as the kids were beginning to use it. "It was removed to make way for a tent," says a resident.
Caught in the crossfire, the kids don’t care whether there is grass beneath their feet or not. They are desperate to hold on to this playground, having been barred from the other half earlier. And they think, once this patch is greened, they will be asked to leave.