Gender Lab starts study to make Chennai parks safe

CHENNAI: To make city parks safer for women and children, the Greater Chennai Corporation’s (GCC) Gender and Policy Lab has commenced a study to collect feedback from users and incorporate their suggestions to improve the facilities.

“Gender and Policy Lab is conducting a short survey to understand the public usage of Corporation parks. The survey link will be available until September 2 on GCC’s official website. If residents wish to share other feedback and inputs, they can write to suggestions.gpl@gmail.com,” the civic body said.

Public can share their suggestions on steps to be taken to make the parks safer such as implementing stricter rules and installing boards with helpline numbers.

The GCC launched the Gender and Policy Lab in April to study public facilities like parks, public toilets and buses across the city to assess whether the facilities provided were safe and friendly to women and children.

The Lab will also submit reports to the GCC with recommendations that’d be incorporated while implementing projects.

“There are a lot of gaps in the infrastructure and services in terms of inclusiveness. The Gender Lab is yet to commence the full-pledged study; they’re doing baseline studies as of now,” a senior official at the Corporation said.

The Gender Lab is a part of a World Bank funded project under Chennai City Partnership Programme and the GCC has appointed gender specialists to conduct studies.

Presently, the GCC maintains 738 parks across the city, of which 571 parks have been handed over to the private contractors for maintenance. Moreover, 150 new parks have been proposed under Singara Chennai 2.0. Another official said that measures will be taken to make parks more inclusive as per the survey result.

Public can share their suggestions about steps to be taken to make the parks safer such as implementing stricter rules and installing boards with helpline numbers