Amid debate over entry fee at DDA’s parks, many visitors say open to paying ‘for a nice, clean experience’

“We were told that to access any part of the park, we now have to pay the fee… Till now, we could come inside and go till a certain spot near the main gate without buying a ticket… If the entry had been free, it would have been good. But what can we do now? It’s alright,” said Rajeev, who hails from Gonda in Uttar Pradesh.

This comes a day after the DDA directed that users will have to pay Rs 20 as a daily entry fee to use the Sector 16D DDA park — the third DDA park in the city to come up with such a rule besides Baansera Park and Asita East Park. There are, in all, 771 DDA parks in Delhi.

The DDA had said it was charging a fee to enhance the Dwarka park’s infrastructure. “We are charging fees only at parks where substantial expenditure has been made to upgrade facilities and to get partial reimbursement of running expenses. Most DDA parks are still free and people can choose which one they prefer,” a DDA spokesperson had told The Indian Express on Friday.

As The Indian Express visited Baansera Park on the western bank of Yamuna and Asita East Park on the river’s eastern bank, it came across many visitors who were happy to pay entry fees to ensure that such parks are maintained properly.

A family visiting Baansera Park welcomed the DDA’s policy to charge an entry fee. “It is good they are charging some amount, which is mostly affordable. If they levy no fee, yaha pe pura bazaar lag jaayega (there will be a huge crowd here)…,” the man said. “It (DDA) must get some money to maintain the park, right?” said his wife.

Firoz Malik (27), who is visiting the park with his wife and toddler, disagreed. “The entry to the park should be free,” he said.

His wife interrupted him — “but if it’s free, then it will become dirty.”

Residents of Kashmere Gate, it is the family’s first time at Baansera Park, which consists of three water bodies and claims to be the plantation site of 25,000 bamboo of 20 varieties.

Around 10 km away is Asita East Park, also built and maintained by DDA, which levies Rs 50 as an entry charge from the general public, Rs 25 from senior citizens, and Rs 200 from foreigners. Children till the age of 13 do not need to pay anything.

Asita East Park, which was far less crowded than Baansera Park on Saturday, is spread over 197 hectares and located off the ITO Barrage.

Guards stationed at the entry said that Sunday was the busiest day for the park, with around 200-400 people visiting. “Other days are calmer like today,” a guard said, referring to the 10-20 people inside. “Most people don’t know about this park.”

Jaspreet Singh (24), who is visiting the park with his partner, said: “All parks should ideally be free for the public, but we don’t mind paying Rs 50 as entry fee. I looked inside the park from the entrance and decided to pay the fee… It was worth it.” This is their first visit.

Abha Gupta (59), a doctor, is visiting the park with her friend Meghna Goyal (52), a content writer. They plan to host a spiritual programme at the park.

“The entire park is beautiful. We asked the authority if we can host any programme here and they were very encouraging. They just said that cooking is not allowed inside, which is fine. We will make arrangements with the park’s canteen,” Gupta said.

“There are thousands of free parks in Delhi, anyone can go there. But they have invested so much here, it is so clean and nice… I don’t mind paying a fee if I get such an experience,” Goyal said.