The Ernakulam Children’s Park that was once the most popular park in the district is drawing much lesser number of children, despite the ongoing summer vacation and its strategic location.
This has widely been attributed to a pair of trains, which were a hit among children, idling during the past several months for want of timely upkeep. A visit to the park on Thursday showed that the trains were parked in a semi-abandoned condition in the weed-infested western side of the park. The renewable energy park established jointly by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and the State government’s Agency for New and Renewable Energy Research and Technology (ANERT) too is in a similar condition.
The park is maintained by the District Council for Child Welfare (DCCW), while the Ernakulam District Tourism Promotion Council (DTPC) maintains a pond at one end of the premises where visitors can do pedal boating for a fee. Kerala Tourism had allotted ₹4 crore to renovate the premises, considering that hundreds of children used to converged here during evenings and through the day during weekends.
“Children are left with just pedal boating and a few cycles as an activity option in the sprawling park,” said Ayub from Aluva who was among those who visited the park on Thursday with his family members. “My children were eager to take a ride in one of the trains. They now have to be content with playing in rides like roller coaster, in better-maintained parts of the park,” he added.
Susmitha who visited the park with her children spoke of the need for kiosks that sold snacks and reactivating the arena on the park premises where cultural events used to be held. “The involvement of multiple stakeholders and lack of accountability could be among the reasons for the trains and other amenities not being optimally used. The park must at least live up to the name of being located on Park Avenue Road in the city’s hub,” she said.
The vacant lending library on the premises, that has a collection of mostly Malayalam books, is proof of inadequate footfall in the park. The membership fee is ₹100, while ₹50 is the monthly fee (payable during months when books are borrowed).
On the increasing need for children to play outdoors and to have face-to-face interactions with their peers in public parks and open spaces, P.M. Chacko, physician-cum-psychologist, said humans were created as social beings and hence the need for connection with fellow human beings. “Such face-to face interactions help in the formation of empathy, which, studies show, is 45% less among today’s generation as compared to the previous generation. No amount of online interactions can be a substitute for this.”
There was need for more public places such as safe and well-maintained parks that helped foster much-needed connectedness, he added.
