No rides in a children’s park?

Golakmoni Shishu Park, one of Khulna city's entertainment centres, hardly lives up to its name. Although it's called a "Shishu Park", there are no facilities for children to play. However, this park, established on 64 decimals of land in 1984 at the heart of Khulna city, could've served as a great entertainment hub for children as well as residents of the city.

If that wasn't bad enough, some installations, including political party offices and small shops, have been erected in the park.

Visiting the park last week, this correspondent saw that there's not a single  ride for children in the park. Some concrete benches have been erected, all occupied by pharmacy representatives, as Khulna diabetic hospital is situated just opposite the park.

Goats were grazing in front of  the concrete theatre stage on the western side of the park. A family adjacent to the northern side piled their belongings including cooking logs, sticks and furniture there. Much of the iron fence has been broken or stolen.

Nine-year-old  Sammridhi Swasty Das went to the park along with her parents on Friday.  But after entering the park she was frustrated for not getting any kind of rides.

"It's an open space, nothing else. Why are there no rides or swings for us to play?" she said.

"I didn't find any kids even after staying here for half an hour. I think very few children come here to play," she added.

Her father Tapon Kumar Das said that Hadis Park situated near Golakmoni is quite popular, as many people gather there. But the Golakmoni park is the only park that was supposed to be dedicated to children's recreation.

"Can you imagine that KCC only has seven parks for 1.7 million people?" he asked .

Without  getting proper playgrounds, children are instead getting addicted to using digital devices, which is extremely detrimental for their physical well-being, he said further.

Upon clearance of city corporation authority, party offices of Awami League and Jubo League, a  water pump, theatre stage and urban primary healthcare centre have been set up inside the park, said Nuruzzaman Talukder, KCC's state officer.

Imam Hassan Choudhury Moina, local councillor of ward-23, said, "I wrote formal letters to KCC mayor for the park's improvement and modernisation, where nowadays drug abusers gather, making it a bad environment for city dwellers, especially children."

"We don't have enough money to repair it," he added.

 "Besides, sand, brick chips, stones, rods and other construction materials are kept across the park while local residents build their house," he alleged.

According to KCC's estate department , the city has eight parks — Hadis Park on Lower Jashore Road, Golakmoni Shishu Park on Sir Iqbal Road, Jatisangha Shishu Park on Khan Jahan Ali Road, Nirala Residential Area Park at Nirala, Sonadanga Residential Park and Sonadanga Solar Energy Park at Sonadanga, Wonderland Shishu Park at Khalishpur and Linier Park at Gallamari.

Khulna city mayor Talukder Abdul Khaleque said, "I'm very aware of the park. KCC has already announced a yearly budget where allocations for parks would be enough for modernisation and ride facilities."

He added that they had a plan to make the park perfect for children and for that, steps would be taken soon.