Lack of open play areas in Dwarka forces kids to play in parks
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Lack of open play areas in Dwarka forces kids to play in parks

While senior citizens object to kids playing in parks, parents say the sub-city doesn’t have enough open spaces dedicated for kids

Lack of open play areas in Dwarka forces kids to play in parks

There seems to be no dearth of parks in Dwarka, with green areas developed by both the DDA and residential societies. However, there are hardly any dedicated open playing areas for children, forcing them to use these parks as playgrounds.

This hasn’t gone down well with senior citizens, who find it a nuisance and disturbance to their daily walks. At times, senior citizens even resort to filing police complaints to stop kids from playing in the parks.

On August 11, a few residents of Sector 5 had complained to the beat officer about kids playing in the District Park. The police later stopped these kids, but residents feel that it will keep happening unless the authorities develop dedicated play areas for children.

SK Sharma, a senior citizen of Sector 6, said, "I was recently hit by a cricket ball during my morning walk. We keep asking kids not to play here, but they just don’t listen. However, with DDA’s interference, things are under control, but on weekends the situation worsens."

Senior citizens want kids to be prohibited from playing games like cricket and football in parks. But parents feel otherwise. Vishal Gupta, treasurer of Lovely Home Apartments, Sector 5, said, "Why should we stop children from playing? This is our fault that we cannot provide them with safe open spaces to play. Stopping them forcefully is not justified."

One of the biggest concerns of parents today is to keep their children away from gadgets and television and let them enjoy playing out in the open. But the lack of dedicated playgrounds isn’t helping.

DDA had earlier planned to develop dedicated play areas in Dwarka. According to sources, there was a plan to develop at least one play area in every sector. Association of Neighbourhood Ladies Get-together (ANHLGT) had followed up on the subject with the DDA. As a result, two playgrounds were developed in Sectors 22 and 23 in 2012.

According to Cicily Kodiyan, president of ANHLGT, “The DDA had planned to develop five play areas at the time. They developed two, but nothing has been done on the other three planned in Sectors 12, 11 and 5."

Sources say that even the park in Sector 5 where kids were stopped from playing was supposed to be developed as a playground. Virender Singh, a resident of Sector 12, said, "The DDA must think seriously about the need for play areas. There are many parks that can be converted into play grounds.”