Journalism of Courage
Playgrounds in schools will finally be open to children of the neighbourhood in the evening hours after the UT Administration issued a formal notification on Wednesday,paving the way for the proposal to be implemented.
The initiative had been doing the rounds for several years encountering roadblocks time and again; the pilot project will now be implemented at the Government Model Senior Secondary School,Sector 21.
With the parks in the neighbourhood being beautified,there was a paucity of space for children to play
leading to disputes with senior citizens complaining when children used the parks to play. At some places,boards had been put up prohibiting children from playing. Residents had also voiced their concerns as a lot vehicles are parked around most of the parks.
The issue was recently taken up by Mayor Subhash Chawla in a meeting of the co-ordination committee between the officials of the UT Administration and the Municipal Corporation. It has been decided that the school grounds would be made available for children of the neighbourhood. The control and management of the ground will stay with school the authorities: they will fix the timings and the grounds will remain under their control.
Further,Municipal Corporation will provide two people for maintenance of the grounds. In case of any damage caused to the school property due to the sports activities,the cost of repairs shall be borne by the civic body.
The proposal had been mooted several times by the MC. One of the reasons that it was not taking off was that the school authorities were not eager to open up playgrounds in the evening on the pretext that school property could be damaged. Children,who had no place to play games had also held a protest to demand that some playgrounds be made available for them.
The issue had recently led to a controversy with councillor of Ward 17 Mukesh Bassi in whose ward Sector 21 falls,writing to the Mayor complaining that he was never consulted on the issue.
Bassi,on Wednesday,wanted to know as to how the Municipal Corporation was going to determine that the children playing in a school were from that particular neighbourhood. I have not been taken into confidence when the terms and conditions were finalised. Who will take responsibility in case there is a fight between the children,particularly those not from the neighbourhood? I refuse to take responsibility for any mishaps in the school, he added.
