Residents hold rally seeking more parks, open spaces in Shimla

SHIMLA: "Little Johny wants to play, but where…?" Questions like these are being raised by school kids and residents here as there is a rising paucity of open spaces, parks and community centers due to expansion of the town and sprawling of concrete conclaves.
With a view to impress upon authorities about their demand for more open spaces, school kids, college students, elderly people and residents of Shimla walked in a protest march on Saturday under the aegis of local youth organization, Youth Enlightening Society (YES), from DC office till Sher-e-Punjab.
Founding president of YES, Akarshan Chauhan, said, "YES has been raising this demand since 2010 and a cricket match was also organized at the historic Ridge to draw the attention of authorities about the need for such open spaces. YES had also filed a PIL in 2010 in this regard. Subsequently, following orders of the HP high court, the municipal corporation had announced a funding programme to develop 25 parks for children in each ward, 15 for tourists and 25 for residents of Shimla, but these have not yet materialized."
Convenor of Himachal Pradesh state chapter of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), B S Malhan, who also took part in the march, said, "In the last 40 years, authorities have failed to look after the parks and open spaces here. Earlier, there were a large number of parks. Many of the parks and forest areas have been lost in this urban expansion quagmire. There was a park near Chotta Shimla called Lady Clancy's park, which was well maintained, and a property called Hawaghar near the same. All these have practically disappeared now."
He added that future generation will have no open spaces, like they had, to boast of.
A class XII student, Anjali, said, "Due to lack of open spaces and parks here, we are forced to stay inside houses and most of our time is spent on internet or watching TV. This has curtailed our physical activities also."
Another Shimla old timer and member of INTACH, Captain Sudhir Khanna reminisced, "We grew up with ample open spaces around in Shimla. There was a park on the left of the Christ Church where kids used to gather in the evenings. Many houses here had tennis courts. However this culture has vanished now."
Convenor of INTACH Shimla chapter, Capt Ved Sud, said, "Lack of open spaces and community centres is a matter of concern. With a view to speed up the process of reviving and reconstructing whatever spaces we have and create new options, INTACH is proposing a project of 'Shimla back to Simla' wherein we are aiming to restore the stability of the sinking historic Ridge besides other open spaces. The proposal is still in a stage of infancy and details are being worked out in a public private partnership (PPP) mode. We are also looking for funding under the JNNURM for this."