A savannah, just in case you aren't aware, is a rolling grassland scattered with shrubs and isolated trees. Savannahs are also known as tropical grasslands. To give you a better idea, here’s a picture of Africa’s savannah grasslands.
Photo:Jstenglein
Now look at the one below. The lion is missing, but with grass growing untamed and wild, doesn't it resemble a savannah? Only that this picture taken by our Dwarka correspondent wasn't shot while he was on an African safari. It is, in fact, straight out of Dwarka's Sector 19 park.
Photo: Akhilesh Pandey
With overgrown grass, this is not the only park where the lawns have started resembling the Serengeti.
The district park in front of Bharat Vandana Apartments, in Sector 19 Pocket 1, and the one beside Akshardham Apartments are in the same decrepit condition, if not worse.
Residents say the parks have been left neglected for a long time and, post monsoon, have started resembling a forest. "The district park in front of our society has waist-high grass in several areas,” says Sunil Sareen, a resident of Bharat Vandana Apartments. “The area where DDA has developed an open gym has been kept well but the rest of the park resembles a jungle.”
The park benches are barely visible amid the overgrown grass. There are numerous bugs and mosquitoes as a result of the underbrush. “I have been suffering from chikungunya since August,” says Kailash Singh, another resident of Bharat Vandana Apartments. “I am sure I was bitten by mosquitoes at the park.”
“DDA should take the issue seriously and clean up the parks immediately," says Prabhat Kumar Singh, RWA president of Bharat Vandana Apartments. “We have complained about the condition of the parks and are awaiting a response from DDA officials.”
Deputy director of horticulture, DDA, Prem Chandra, says, “We have started tending to all the park lawns. The parks in Sector 19 will also be pruned in due time.”
Till then, however, residents have no option but to avoid these parks like a plague.
