Nagpur: The cash-strapped Nagpur Municipal Corporation has invested over Rs9 lakh for Shivaji Maharaj statute to be installed at
Shivaji Nagar garden and scheduled to be inaugurated by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday. But the toilet on the same premises is in a deplorable condition — stinking, filthy, leaking faucets, broken pipes and poor water supply.
"Most of the times it remains filthy causing inconvenience to the visitors. Even as the union government has declared Nagpur as one of the 37 open defecation free (ODF) cities of Maharashtra, toilet in this garden actually needs maintenance," a miffed morning walker and a resident of Shivaji Nagar S B Kshirsagar said.
After being informed from residents and walkers, TOI visited the garden on Saturday morning and was exposed to foul smell emanating right from the garden's entrance.
Though the garden is well maintained, according to morning walkers, the toilet should be maintained every day as it witnesses huge footfall during morning and evening hours. Due to ill-maintained toilets, most visitors are constrained against using it.
The garden is well maintained but lacks basic amenities like drinking water, fans and proper lighting in green library, said Manoj Tidke another regular visitor.
Visitors also wondered how the NMC's garden department become active just ahead of CM Devendra Fadnavis and Union minister Nitin Gadkari's visit scheduled on January 7 to unveil the newly installed statue of Shivaji Maharaj. They pointed out that only on Saturday, the NMC painted the toilet's wall. "Hope they will maintain the same spirit of the garden's maintenance in future too," said Sheela Rathi another resident.
Even as NMC is wasting precious taxpayers money, it failed to maintain its gardens. All the swings at Vivekanand Nagar garden near SAI Mandir are broken and despite many complaints, the authorities turned a blind eye. Even the slides are broken at many places thus posing grave risk to the children playing there. In last couple of years, many children sustained injuries after falling from the broken slides. The toilets adjacent to the garden are in pathetic condition, as those were not cleaned even once in two months.
