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Road roko to protest the delay in establishing park

— Photo: T.Singaravelou

RAISING A DEMAND: CPI activists staging a road roko in Puducherry on Monday.

PUDUCHERRY: Activists belonging to the Puducherry unit of the Communist Party of India (CPI), along with some of the residents of Rainbow Nagar on Monday staged a road roko here, seeking an early solution to the impasse in setting up a children’s park near Venkata Nagar.

The activists courted arrested when they staged the road roko on 45 feet road. They were released later.

CPI national council member and Member of the Legislative Assembly R. Viswanathan said the project to set up the park was delayed due to administrative reasons. The government had failed to solve the deadlock between Forests and Electricity Departments over demarcation of the land proposed for establishing the park, he said.

The work had begun a few months ago and it came to a sudden halt, he said, adding that “internal squabbles” was the reason for the delay in completing the project.

Residents said they were disappointed over the delay in establishing the park as it was a boon to children living in areas adjacent to Rainbow Nagar.

As there was no other facility in the locality for children to play, they wanted the government to initiate immediate steps to complete the work.

Sources in the government said the Town and Country Planning Department had handed over the land (250 metre by 70 metre) to the Forests Department during the beginning of last year for the park project.

As per the directive given by the Forests Department, the Puducherry Agro Services and Industries Corporation Limited (PASIC) started the work to develop the land and put in place proper infrastructure to create the park, sources said.

As PASIC commenced the work to lay the footpath, the Electricity Department wanted to demarcate an area which was under its possession near the proposed site for the park.

Sources said the Town and Country Planning Department had allotted a 70 metre by 70 metre land to the Electricity Department near the area marked for setting up the park.

Forests Department officials said they had already purchased play equipment such as swings, satellite climbers, slides, seesaws and multi-play things worth around Rs. 10 lakh. Once the work was completed, they would open the park at the earliest, they said.

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