Gawalmandi park remains closed for five years

The 50-year-old Ladies and Children Park in Gawalmandi, the city's 200-year-old residential area, has remained completely closed for the past five years, leaving the swings installed for children of poor families rusted and unusable. The iron from these swings has also started being stolen. As night falls, the park becomes a safe haven for drug addicts and people using narcotics. Grass, weeds and wild plants up to five feet high have grown throughout the park, resulting in an abundance of rats, cats, snakes and mongooses. These dangerous creatures frequently move out of the park onto roads and into residential areas. With the only recreational park serving a densely populated area of around 100,000 people completely closed, residents, families and children have been deprived of recreation. Five years ago, the park was active, with elderly men and women and female students from nearby areas coming there every morning for jogging, morning walks and exercise. In the evening, families, women and children would visit the park for walks and recreation. After the park was completely closed, motor mechanic workshops were established around all four sides of it. The facility was a major central ladies and children park for women and children in Rawalpindi but has now turned into a wreck. Garbage heaps have accumulated near the entrance gates, while stagnant rainwater at various places in the park has led to a large amount of dengue larvae, which are developing into dengue mosquitoes and spreading into nearby areas. As a result, the recreational park, which had remained a centre of positive activities for 50 years, has now become a source of trouble for local residents. Area residents Fayyaz Hashmi, Shehbaz Ali, Imran Khan and Makhdum Ali Raza have appealed to the commissioner, deputy commissioner and chief executive officer of the board to open the Gawalmandi park, install new swings and restore its old status as a recreational facility by cutting the five- to six-foot-high grass and wild weeds.