Shiv Sena MLA spots bad garden infra, alerts Thane civic chief

THANE: The family of Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik got a first-hand experience of badly maintained gardens in Thane city during a recent random visit to one of the facilities with their grandson following which they have written to the municipal corporation requesting an immediate revamp.
MLA Sarnaik and his wife Parisha claimed they were horrified to see the badly maintained facility that was also freely accessed by anti-social elements following which they independently wrote to municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar.
"I recently visited the Shriniwas Khale garden in ward 5 near Shivai Nagar with my grandson only to find it in bad shape. Most of the play and recreation equipment was broken, the landscaping was destroyed and youngsters were seen smoking, consuming liquor within the premises. I immediately left the garden and felt sorry that I couldn’t ensure a proper public play area for my grandson and other children who deserved open space to play," said former corporator Parisha Sarnaik.
The Sarnaiks said children were being deprived of their rightful space of recreation and blamed the municipal garden department staff for deliberately neglecting upkeep of these gardens resulting in children being denied space to play during their holidays.
"The corporation has got good funding from the state and there is a lot of beautification work going on in the city but the condition of gardens here is surprisingly neglected. The civic garden department officials seem to be holding their posts for several years and are more interested in new gardens and proposals for tree cutting for new projects,” Sarnaik said.
Activists and parents said it was high time the administration woke up to this issue and took corrective action.
It may be noted there are nearly 129 gardens in the city and the corporation spends several crores for their upkeep. However, the condition of these facilities continues to remain deplorable following which activists and netas have demanded the maintenance be outsourced to private parties similar to that which is practiced in Navi Mumbai.
When contacted, deputy municipal commissioner, Shankar Patole, in-charge of the garden department said they will look into the issue and said they are already charting out a plan to revamp the existing gardens.