LUCKNOW: The open air gyms at the two most popular parks of the city — Janeshwar Mishra Park and Lohia Park, both in Gomtinagar — have become an epitome of poor health.
The defunct and broken equipment have turned into a huge disappointment for morning and evening walkers who frequent these parks to inhale fresh air besides stretching their muscles.
In a reality check at Janeshwar Mishra park, TOI found elliptical cross trainer, recumbent cycle, two-person parallel dip station and full bar exerciser lying broken. Not just the gym equipment, even most of the slides for children had jagged sharp edges, holes and broken ladders. Many of the swings, too, were in a bad state and looked they would fall apart any time.
“I used to exercise on the cross trainer, but it has been out of order for the past few months. Now I just come to the park and leave after to doing some running and stretching,” said Vishal Jain.
Vaishnavi Gupta, who brings her 7-year-old child to Janeshwar Mishra Park daily, said, “I keep a close watch because the metal swings are broken and slides have holes and sharp edges that could cause injury to children.”
TOI found a similar state of open air gym equipment when it visited Lohia Park. Ishwar Pandey, a daily visitor to the park, said, “Gym equipment installed in the park have been lying broken for the past four months. My friends and I used to come here for workout but we have now joined a gym as the equipment are defunct. We now come here only in the evening for running.”
When TOI raised the issue with LDA — which is responsible for the maintenance of the two parks — it blamed the private company hired for installing and maintaining the open air gyms. “We had given contract to a private company for maintaining the gyms at both the parks. We will ask it to replace the broken equipment soon,” said LDA garden in-charge SP Sisodiya.
The defunct and broken equipment have turned into a huge disappointment for morning and evening walkers who frequent these parks to inhale fresh air besides stretching their muscles.
In a reality check at Janeshwar Mishra park, TOI found elliptical cross trainer, recumbent cycle, two-person parallel dip station and full bar exerciser lying broken. Not just the gym equipment, even most of the slides for children had jagged sharp edges, holes and broken ladders. Many of the swings, too, were in a bad state and looked they would fall apart any time.
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LDA is planning to upgrade all the parks under its jurisdiction with facilities like open air gym, WiFi and swings, but the two major ones, which already have some of these amenities, are lying in a dilapidated state. The development authority should ensure that parks and services are properly maintained after renovation by deploying dedicated staff or hiring a private agency.
“I used to exercise on the cross trainer, but it has been out of order for the past few months. Now I just come to the park and leave after to doing some running and stretching,” said Vishal Jain.
Vaishnavi Gupta, who brings her 7-year-old child to Janeshwar Mishra Park daily, said, “I keep a close watch because the metal swings are broken and slides have holes and sharp edges that could cause injury to children.”
TOI found a similar state of open air gym equipment when it visited Lohia Park. Ishwar Pandey, a daily visitor to the park, said, “Gym equipment installed in the park have been lying broken for the past four months. My friends and I used to come here for workout but we have now joined a gym as the equipment are defunct. We now come here only in the evening for running.”
When TOI raised the issue with LDA — which is responsible for the maintenance of the two parks — it blamed the private company hired for installing and maintaining the open air gyms. “We had given contract to a private company for maintaining the gyms at both the parks. We will ask it to replace the broken equipment soon,” said LDA garden in-charge SP Sisodiya.
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