Parks inside Ram Bagh in miserable condition; need funds for restoration

Charanjit Singh Teja

Amritsar, June 24

The parks inside the historic Ram Bagh are in a miserable condition. Owing to fund crunch and the shortage of staff, the Amritsar Municipal Corporation has failed to provide the required number of gardeners in the parks of the MC.

Though the previous Congress and SAD-BJP governments spent crores of rupees on the development of the Ram Bagh, but the funds were spent only on increasing the concrete area. Besides, part of the garden is under illegal possession of influential persons. The green area in the garden is shrinking. There is only one major park in the garden near Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s statue. This park is better maintained as compared to other parks.

All other parks are completely neglected by the civic body authorities. There is a wild growth of grass everywhere. Heaps of dry leaves and garbage can be seen in the parks. The grass is grown in patches. The benches are broken. Centuries-old trees are falling due to lack of care.

“It is sad that the condition of all these parks in the Ram Bagh is miserable. There is no proper maintenance, curing, trimming or cleaning of these parks. It’s free for all. Anybody can cause harm to trees, space, etc, there,” said environmentalist Parkash Singh Bhatti.

PC Sharma, a local activist, said, “The civic body has failed to restrict the entry of cars in the gardens. The Ram Bagh is declared a protected monument by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), but the government hardly show concern for the heritage. The clubs inside the garden play loud music and park vehicles inside the garden affecting the flora and fauna inside it.”

PS Bhattti raised voice against the trees axed in the garden. “People put grains near trees for birds, but rats feed on them. Every tree has rat holes around their trunks, weakening the very foundations of the trees. There are more than 100 tilting trees in Ram Bagh only. Already more than 500 trees have fallen due to the administration’s apathetic attitude. No one has ever inspected the parks or tried to discover the reason behind the fall of these trees,” added Bhatti.

MC Commissioner Sandeep Rishi said, “As per the set standards, one acre park needs at least gardeners. This 84-acre company garden needs more than 160 workers. We have been facing the staff crunch and cannot provide gardeners. Despite all odds, we are maintaining a major proportion of the garden.”