Smart City upheaval : Gandhi Park closed to build road underpass

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Jan 10, 2020 :  For people in general and  many pensioners and elderly people Gandhi Park was a favourite spot to catch up with old times, exchange the all-too-familiar stories of ill-treatment by their siblings and vent out frustration on the cost of living.  Not being able to meet  friends and former colleagues at Mahatma Gandhi Park near Townhall Mangaluru, is now a serious complaint.

 

For these it was a big break to come and spend quality time at the park they used to return to their respective homes only after sunset.

Another pensioner who invites elderly visitors to play chess with him claimed to have spent most of his time at the park.  However, the paradise called Gandhi Park remained out of bounds for the elderly after Mangaluru Smart Mission Limited (MSML) sealed the park for public and dug up the place in order to construct an underpass from Mini Vidhanasoudha side to Lady Goschen Hospital.


The park, one among the 40 parks maintained by Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC), has toilets without water supply. Two fountains in the park had stopped functioning long ago. Due to lack of proper care, the trees became worm-infested and seemed likely to crash on the ground at any moment. Moreover, the stones placed on the walking track were uneven.

“The gardener, while watering the plants, had tipped over one of the uneven stone causing his big toe to bleed,” said sources.

“Instead of inviting danger and invoking the curses of our families, it is better to stay indoors,” a pensioner.

Deprived of their favourite spot and peer-banter, the plight of pensioners is similar to birds with broken nests. Indeed how smart is our city going to become.