Residents give facelift to Kalimpong children's park

A group of schoolchildren play in the Kalimpong Children’s Park on Tuesday.
Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha 

Rajeev Ravidas, TT, Kalimpong, Nov. 18: A group of men under the banner of a recently formed organisation, Yours and Ours Universe (YOU) has come together to clean and do up the Kalimpong Children's Park on Upper Cart Road here.

More than 15 members of YOU approached the local PWD officials and expressed their desire to repair and refurbish the park. This was their maiden venture after forming the group in September.

"We are a group from diverse backgrounds (engineers, lawyers and businessmen among others). We formed YOU in September to carry out various works that would benefit the larger public. The work we have done at childrens' park is our first initiative," said Manish Lama, the president of YOU.

Apart from cleaning up the place, the members of YOU have also repaired the swing, given a fresh coat of paint to the entire park complex and drawn cartoon characters on its walls. The drive was started on November 10 and the work got over by Children's Day on November 14.

"We collected materials like paints, bolts and other such things from our friends. We had also kept a donation box near the park while we were working there. Some more work needs to be done in the park, but we don't have funds," said Rahul Dahal, the secretary of YOU.

The small angular-shaped park just below Kalimpong Government College was constructed by the state public works department in the late 1990s for the town's children who are below the age of 14.

The park has a slide, a swing, a parallel bar and a seesaw and is one of the few open public spaces for children in the town. However, over the years, the park has not been maintained and adults also enter the park.

Dahal hopes that the PWD would ensure security of the park and not allow adults to enter.

A senior PWD official said the main problem with the park was providing security to restrict the entry of adults. "We can't provide security because of which the park has turned into a place for drug addicts and couples. Despite putting up a board restricting the entry of persons above the age of 14, adults enter the park and damage the property meant for children," said the official.

He, however, admitted that the repair and maintenance work in the park was done only once every year.