Chennai: Usually crowded during holidays, the Aavin children’s park in Ambattur is no more a holiday spot for children in the neighbourhood. With weeds growing, seats, compound wall and swings broken, the park has become as tippler’s den, preventing people from visiting it.
Inaugurated and maintained by Aavin, the park had a good amount of footfall with an added delight of Aavin milk parlour inside the premises. But now owing to negligence by the authorities it remains in shambles. Though Aavin had promised to renovate the park and construct a bigger parlour after Vardah, the renovation has not begun till date. With stormwater drain construction being carried out at a slow place adjacent to the entrance of the park, it has become dangerous for children to even enter.
“Though the construction work of the parlour inside the park started a few months back, it has halted since the time the construction of stormwater drains started. Swings and tables broken during Vardah and have not been replaced yet,” said R Vignesh, a resident of the locality.
With regard to the slow pace of stormwater drain construction, the zonal officer said that the work has been almost completed.
“The construction work is over by 80 percent, only the linking of the drain to the main line is left to be done,” said an official.
Residents claim to have informed the zonal authorities about the same, but no action has been taken yet.
When asked about the issue, personnel from Aavin said, “We are waiting for the Greater Chennai Corporation to complete the stormwater drain construction work, so that we can resume the construction of parlour and carry out the renovation. Cleaning and maintenance will be completed by the end of the year”.
