Stop converting playgrounds into ornamental parks.Restore kid's right to play in park.
Kids are assaulted, threatened and often abused by some residents, mostly elderly people, when they go out to play in the parks. Elderly people don't want them around. They are often threatened with serious consequences and abused.
According to a judgement by the Delhi High Court in Rajinder Nagar Welfare Association vs MCD/DDA n others,children cant be stopped by anyone from playing in any parks whatever may be the reason.
Children can play in parks in P’kula residential area: Court
- HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times, Panchkula |
- Updated: Jan 25, 2015 11:09 IST
Vansh, 12, Ansh, 13, Adarsh, 11, and Devanshu, 11, and all children in Panchkula, can now play football or cricket in parks near their houses, thanks to an interim court order.
With children in cities finding it difficult to find open grounds to play cricket or football, these four boys, residents of Sector-7, here, filed a petition in court demanding that they be allowed to play in local parks in the residential areas in the city and the court has allowed children to play in such spaces.
In an interim order on January 20, civil judge (junior division) Jasleen Narang ordered that children be allowed to play in these parks till further orders. The boys had moved court through their fathers in August 2014.
Now, Panchkula has legal sanction to give children the space to play in neighborhood parks, Chandigarh has no policy and in SAS Nagar, the children are not allowed to play in parks.
The petition was against Park Development Society, a body charged with maintenance parks in residential areas, the Panchkula MC and the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), demanding the right to play in parks.
“Our children used to complain that people who headed park development societies do not allow them to play,” said Arun Maheshwari, one of the petitioners and Varun’s father.
Before moving court, Maheshwari, a stock broker, had filed an application under the RTI Act, in 2013, asking for reasons on why the children were not being allowed to play in such parks.
In reply, the MC told him that children were not authorised to play anywhere. The MC admitted that it had no policy for outdoor activities and recreation of children in Panchkula.
‘Play is a right’
Claiming that they had a fundamental right to visit and play in the parks, the boys prayed before the court that not allowing them to play was “ leading to disappearance of children from parks ... this attitude creates hurdles in improving community spirit among children,” the petition added.
“No one has met me yet. We are going to frame a policy allowing children to play either in a park or school,” said Panchkula MC commissioner SP Arora.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Parks-turn-gardens-parking-space-game-up-for-kids/articleshow/12156132.cms
Parks turn gardens, parking space, game up for kids
With neighbourhood parks turned into gardens and colony lanes lost to parking, children across the city are left with no space to play in.
NEW DELHI: With neighbourhood parks turned into gardens and colony lanes lost to parking, children across the city are left with no space to play in. Ironically, it is the resident welfare associations — representative bodies — that have taken the lead to convert grounds into gardens ever since Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) empowered them to maintain colony parks under the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme.
"There is no space for us to play cricket. We are not allowed to play in the park, as it has been developed into an ornamental garden,'' says Ashish, a student who lives in South Extension-I. MCD officials say they receive many complaints about disappearing playgrounds from parents. "We have asked all RWAs to allocate a portion of the park for children. In colonies where there are more than three parks, we advise them to leave one for children,'' said a senior MCD official.
The Corporation has close to 15,000 parks, of which nearly 200 are for children. In a significant ruling last year, the Delhi high court had said no one can prohibit children from using a park as a playground. The court took a dim view of the Rajinder Nagar Welfare Association's petition opposing fencing of a section of a local park by MCD.
In Malviya Nagar, children approached the area councillor to reclaim their playground which elders had "encroached upon". "After the area councillor intervened, we developed one portion of the park especially for kids. Earlier, elders would not let children enter the park. Children have the first claim on colony parks as outdoor sports are important for their holistic development,'' says Sanjiv Sood, president of B1 Block, Malviya Nagar.
But now, some RWAs have found a solution to the problem. In GK-I's E-block, the park has been divided into three parts — for elders, teenagers and toddlers. "We have to cater to requirements of all the age groups. We have beautified the area and made seating arrangements for people who want to sit in the park. For teenagers, we have constructed basketball and tennis courts. For toddlers, playground equipment has been installed," says Rajeev Kakria, president of the E-block RWA.
On the other hand, huge playgrounds developed by Delhi Development Authority in areas like Hauz Khas, Kalkaji, Rohini and Vikaspuri provide much-needed open spaces to children in the neighbourhood. However, there are only 26 such playgrounds in the city. Fifteen-year-old Sumit Syal, who lives in Uttam Nagar, says, "Every Sunday, I head to the playground in Vikaspuri as many of my friends stay there. We have long cricket sessions and it's the time in the entire week. I could have played every day had there been such a playground near my place."
Developed over the last decade, the playgrounds run into several acres and have cricket pitches, multi-gyms and mini football fields. Though DDA conducts sports activities throughout the year, catering to children in colonies is not exactly on its agenda.
"We are coming up with new playfields in collaboration with Delhi Police. They had identified areas near slums which they wanted us to develop as playgrounds so that they could divert juveniles towards sports. We have already developed at least six new playgrounds under this scheme. Eleven more are in the pipeline," a senior DDA official said. The scheme was introduced by the lieutenant-governor in the wake of rising juvenile crime.
Delhi Police had identified 24 sites of which only 17 were found to be owned by DDA. The playgrounds on these sites have facilities for football, basketball and volleyball and are being maintained by Delhi Police. "However, there are no plans to construct more general playgrounds. It depends on the availability of land," he added.
"There is no space for us to play cricket. We are not allowed to play in the park, as it has been developed into an ornamental garden,'' says Ashish, a student who lives in South Extension-I. MCD officials say they receive many complaints about disappearing playgrounds from parents. "We have asked all RWAs to allocate a portion of the park for children. In colonies where there are more than three parks, we advise them to leave one for children,'' said a senior MCD official.
The Corporation has close to 15,000 parks, of which nearly 200 are for children. In a significant ruling last year, the Delhi high court had said no one can prohibit children from using a park as a playground. The court took a dim view of the Rajinder Nagar Welfare Association's petition opposing fencing of a section of a local park by MCD.
But now, some RWAs have found a solution to the problem. In GK-I's E-block, the park has been divided into three parts — for elders, teenagers and toddlers. "We have to cater to requirements of all the age groups. We have beautified the area and made seating arrangements for people who want to sit in the park. For teenagers, we have constructed basketball and tennis courts. For toddlers, playground equipment has been installed," says Rajeev Kakria, president of the E-block RWA.
On the other hand, huge playgrounds developed by Delhi Development Authority in areas like Hauz Khas, Kalkaji, Rohini and Vikaspuri provide much-needed open spaces to children in the neighbourhood. However, there are only 26 such playgrounds in the city. Fifteen-year-old Sumit Syal, who lives in Uttam Nagar, says, "Every Sunday, I head to the playground in Vikaspuri as many of my friends stay there. We have long cricket sessions and it's the time in the entire week. I could have played every day had there been such a playground near my place."
Developed over the last decade, the playgrounds run into several acres and have cricket pitches, multi-gyms and mini football fields. Though DDA conducts sports activities throughout the year, catering to children in colonies is not exactly on its agenda.
"We are coming up with new playfields in collaboration with Delhi Police. They had identified areas near slums which they wanted us to develop as playgrounds so that they could divert juveniles towards sports. We have already developed at least six new playgrounds under this scheme. Eleven more are in the pipeline," a senior DDA official said. The scheme was introduced by the lieutenant-governor in the wake of rising juvenile crime.
Delhi Police had identified 24 sites of which only 17 were found to be owned by DDA. The playgrounds on these sites have facilities for football, basketball and volleyball and are being maintained by Delhi Police. "However, there are no plans to construct more general playgrounds. It depends on the availability of land," he added.
No comments:
Post a Comment