A year on, Velachery residents wait for vacant site to be converted into playground

Though there are enough parks, children cannot play or spend more time at the park and hence demand for a playground in the area came up, said local residents. The officials gave consent to convert a plot located at Bethel Avenue in VGP Selva Nagar into a playground.

“I submitted a petition to convert a park into playground in 2017. The authorities acknowledged the petition and even gave consent. But nothing concrete emerged from it,” said M Balakrishnan, general secretary, Tansi Nagar Welfare Association.

At times, the land earmarked for playground was even used to dump waste materials by the civic body itself, alleged residents. The officials had suggested that they would build courts for basketball, tennis and badminton. “VGP Selva Nagar and surrounding areas have cemented court for basketball, and some parks have badminton courts. But the children who want to play other games must play on the roadside. The children need spacious ground to play any sport,” said Narayanaswamy KP, a resident of Baby Nagar. So the residents have asked the officials to create a walkers’ path and also to level the ground so that people can do whatever physical activity or sport they liked. “We wanted neem trees around the place and agreed to plant and take care of saplings,” Balakrishnan said.

When contacted, a senior Corporation official said, “We don’t have sufficient funds to convert the empty plot into a playground as of now. But the works will be started within a few months.”