Hawkers, cars clog city school ground

Gurgaon: A busy road and various types of encroachments are some of the reasons why students of Government Senior Secondary School, Civil Lines cannot play in their own school ground. For several years, the students have not been allowed to go to the playground because the schools fears that they might meet with an accident.
The playground, with an area of 4.22 acres, is instead given out for commercial activities. Last year, the ground gave space to one Gemini Circus for over two months. Geeta Arya, principal of the school, said, “This ground is not under my command. Even though it is the school’s ground, all decisions related to it are taken by the education department or the district administration.” She added, “We don’t even send our students to the ground to play because they have to cross a busy road.”

While the playground belongs to the school on paper, it has also been encroached upon by a huge number of hawkers. A man who usually parks his vehicle on the ground said, “There is a proper parking system that is being run from inside the ground. It will be hard for the officials to remove them because for more than 10 years no one has done anything about it.”

TOI has learnt that many shopkeepers of Sadar Bazar park their vehicles inside the ground as it is cheaper. With no available alternatives, the students are forced to play in the small parks located inside the school’s premises. Om Prakash, a school employee who has been working here for over two decades, said, “Earlier, students would go and play on the ground. However, because of the heavy traffic on the road, school authorities have disallowed students from crossing the road.”

Meanwhile, Mayor Madhu Azad claimed, “All the encroachments will soon be removed. Also, no hawkers or illegally parked cars will be allowed to remain on the school ground.”