Vacation is almost over, but these parks keep kids away

KOCHI: The two major children's parks in the city, Children's Theatre Park at Marine Drive and Changampuzha Park, remained in a decrepit state throughout the vacation season, leaving kids with few options to spend their holiday evenings.
The work of Children’s Theatre Park, whose renovation funds were sanctioned in July 2017, progresses at a snail’s pace.The works for the entrance gate have started but most of the rides remain inoperative and unusable.
“We could not completely shut the park down for the renovation works as it is the vacation season, and because of the same, full-fledged works haven’t begun yet. Once the vacations are over, we will shut down the park for the works. The project is expected to be completed in a year’s time,” said Shyamalakshmi S, ADC general of the park.
However, the key attractions of the park such as the musical fountain, pedal-boating pond, and mini toy-train remain closed during the holidays as they are now in a deteriorated condition.
Changampuzha Park, which is another of the major parks in the city, is in a poorly maintained state with the below par landscaping of the park and worn off play equipment. The park caretaker said that it has been a while since major renovation or new installations have been made in the park.
“As the park is maintained by the GCDA, we only do repair works in case of any major damage to the equipment or the benches. Otherwise, the GCDA sends their team for other works. There is only one person for the daily maintenance of the park and one for toilet cleaning. Both are employed by the Changampuzha Cultural Committee. Once in a month or so GCDA sends their team for other works,” said P G Ravikumar, Changampuzha Cultural committee member.
Subhash Bose Park was the only park that was wellmaintained and easily accessible for the city dwellers this summer, due to which the park was thronged in the evenings on holidays.
However, a weekend cultural evening programme chalked out by the corporation in October 2016 is yet to take off.
“The plan was to hire local artists and performers to conduct cultural events on Fridays and Sundays. Due to some organizational difficulties, the project is getting delayed,” said A B Sabu, chairman of the standing committee for welfare at the corporation.
Other two children’s parks, which are located a little further from the city centre – Nehru Park in Fort Kochi which was opened to the public after a major overhaul in December 2017 and Science Park in Kalamassery – were also a favourite among kids during the vacation, with the parks being well maintained with enough play equipment for the kids to choose from.
Along with the science-related equipment in the science park, such as ‘Barton’s Pendulum’, ‘Humidity Meter’, ‘Sun Dial’ and ‘Anemometer’, the municipality will soon be providing a pathway for cycling, a trampoline and a boating service for kids up to 7 years. “We had also planned on placing a telescope in the park for the children but because of Naval Armament Depot being placed nearby, we didn’t get the sanction to do so,” said Jessy Peter, Kalamassery chairperson.
As many of the equipment were damaged immediately after the inauguration of the park in 2015, around Rs 5 lakh has also been allotted for the installation of CCTV cameras for monitoring the park visitors.