Good & bad: A tale of two parks

LUDHIANA: A walk through Gurdev Nagar is all it takes to prove that a couple of determined residents can do a much better job of maintaining the city than the civic body itself. There are two public parks in the locality - one bears the usual dilapidated mark of negligence by civic authorities, while the other has flowers in full bloom, thanks to the residents who took charge of its maintenance.
Tired of waiting for the authorities to provide them a place where they could enjoy their evenings, 17 families from the area pooled in money and resources to give it a makeover. What was only four years ago a shabby piece of land with some bushes dotting it and full of stray dogs is now a garden lined with Royal Palms, water brush, magnolias, bohemia and arches. The other park in the same locality is its absolute opposite. Its boundaries have been broken and garbage is strewn around. But the MC has taken no lessons from residents' effort to maintain the neglected park.
Sewa Singh Mann, a retired professor of horticulture who took the initiative of maintaining the park, said they have spent around Rs 3,00,000 in six years on beautifying the park. "We needed a place where the elderly people could sit in the evenings, children could play and middle-aged could do brisk walking. We waited a long time for the civic authorities to do something about it but were disappointed. So we decided to develop this park on our own and started with just Rs 17,000," Mann said.
C S Gill, an 84-year-old resident of the area rued that it took the best part of his lifetime to have a maintained garden in the area. "We kept waiting for authorities to do something but finally decided it was not worth it. Seventeen families pooled in money and resources for developing this park, while others are still waiting for the civic authorities to work for them. I am happy that I got a place to go for a walk in the evenings," he said.