Civic bodies to upgrade community centres, develop model parks in Ambala

As many as 35 community centres in the district will be upgraded by the civic bodies to increase community engagement and optimum utilisation of the infrastructure.

As per the information, 17 community centres under the Ambala Municipal Corporation, 13 under the Ambala Sadar Municipal Council, three under the Barara Municipal Committee and two under the Naraingarh Municipal Committee are to be upgraded.

Under the upgrading plan, the community cetnres will get the required repair to make these functional and facilities such as air conditioning, solar panels, tabel tennis, library or reading rooms will be set up depending upon the space and requirement.

Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Sachin Gupta, who also holds the charge of District Municipal Commissioner (DMC), said, “It has been decided to upgrade 35 community centres in Ambala to provide better facilities to the residents. The community centres will get air conditioners, table tennis, and to keep the power consumption in check, solar panels will also be installed. The prime objective behind the upgrading of the community centres is to make people use the facility and make optimum use of infrastructure.”

“We have the community centres and we want to improve community engagement. With better facilities and infrastructure people will hold their functions and other events and even come there to spend their time as we want to develop reading spaces and sports corners too at the community centres. We are also planning to ensure community participation in the operations of the community centres,” he said.

The Municipal Commissioner said at a meeting held with the officials of the civic bodies, agenda and directions were issued and they were told to come out with a report regarding the upgrading and requirements of the community centres so that tenders could be floated. He further said, “I have already told the officials to do the need analysis and get the plan ready by November so that tenders can be floated in December and work is completed by March next year.”

Meanwhile, the civic bodies will also develop model parks in the district and as per the plan, about 250 model parks in the district will be developed of which 100 will be upgraded in the first phase. The parks will get open gyms, ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) rubber tracks for the convenience of joggers and walkers, especially the elderly, play zones and improved lighting and sitting facilities.

Gupta said, “There is a plan to develop model parks in the district and install open gyms, EPDM tracks, basketball and badminton courts and other facilities depending on the availability of space and requirements. The idea is to provide good facilities at the parks so that more people start using the facilities there.”

“Various projects have been discussed with the officials and they have been asked to come out with detailed reports so that further process can be initiated to provide better facilities to the residents of Ambala. There is also a plan to construct new bus queue shelters with good facilities and install water ATMs in the district in the coming days,” he said.