The much-hyped Tawi front children park in Jammu is poorly maintained and the visitors are complaining lack of facilities here. No efforts are being made to improve the infrastructure and to provide facilities to the visitors.
Most of the people complain that the entry fee of Rs 20 for adults and Rs 10 for children is not justified as there is lack of facilities. Under the Tawi beautification project undertaken in 2008, the entire stretch from Gujjar Nagar to Bagwati Nagar was to be beautified with parks and developing a river front. In a long span of eight years, only the park was completed, while other projects were never taken up.
“It has become a money minting machine for the private contractors. The entry fee is also not justified as there is no major attraction for the children. The toy train is still not operational and is just a showpiece.” said Ashok Anand, who visited the park along with his family.
The Tawi front park has been set up on 25 kanals of reclaimed land transferred by the Irrigation and Flood Control Department to the Tourism Department and constructed at a cost of Rs 5.50 crore, which includes Rs 1 crore additional for the damage sustained in 2014 floods, was touted as a major attraction in Jammu city.
Sarita Devi, a visitor said, “Jammu, a city of 15 lakh inhabitants, has a few options for having an outing with the family unlike Srinagar city, which is adorned by parks. Except for the Bag-e-Bahu Park developed on the hillock having one of the ancient forts, there is no other major garden. No doubt there is Rajinder Park near Canal Road, but this park has lost its charm. This park has rides and slides for children but also lack other facilities. Moreover, it is out of way for we people residing the outskirts.”
She further share, “I do not understand for what purpose are the authorities charging Rs 20 from adults and Rs 10 from children when they have nothing to show. No slides or rides are there except that one toy train and that too is still not functional. If six or seven members of a family visit the part they have to almost a amount of Rs 100 and when they visit the park they find the money wasted as there is nothing to attract visitors. Moreover, there is not even a water cooler for the visitors to quench their thirst in this hot weather. The authorities need to look into this.”