KMC mulls facilities for elderly citizens in parks across city

Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has plans to develop facilities for senior citizens in a number of parks in the city, considering the demand of elderly persons for the same.

"There has been demand from some councillors to come up with facilities for senior citizens in parks. But space constraint is a major challenge. We have plans to develop facilities for the elderly wherever there is availability of space," a senior official of the Parks and Gardens department of the civic body said.

Nivedita Park in Ward 7 has already been given a facelift,

with a separate enclosure for senior citizens to relax, particularly after their morning and evening walks. Facilities have also been put in place for

smooth jogging.

Maddox Square Park under Ward 69 has witnessed the setting up of acupuncture facilities, particularly for the benefit of senior citizens. It has come up adjacent to the children's corner at the park.

Indu Park located at Ward 107 in Kasba is also undergoing renovation, to provide wide space to aged people for their morning and evening walks.

"There are more than 10 children's parks in Ward 107, with various rides and other activities for the enjoyment of children. The senior citizens wanted a park with some sort of separate facilities for them," said Sushanta Kumar Ghosh, councillor of Ward 107, who is also the chairman of Borough XII.

Apart from open space for walks, there will also be comfortable seating arrangements favourable for an adda ambience.

There will be indoor game facilities like chess, ludo, etc. as well. A waterbody inside the park is also being renovated and a fountain will be built. An open library will also come up inside the park.

The major portion of the work has already been completed and Ghosh is optimistic of unveiling the park in three months.

A portion of the Rs 80 lakh needed for developing the park was allocated by the Parks and Gardens department and the rest was disbursed by the Project Management Unit (PMU) department of the civic body.

The KMC maintains around 720 parks in the city spanning across all 144 wards.