Although in May 2007, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the Ludhiana municipal corporation to maintain parks in the city for which the park management committees (PMCs) should be paid Rs 1 per square metre, the orders await implementation in letter and spirit. S S Chana, President, PMC, in a letter to the MC Commissioner said the previous commissioner had convened a couple of meetings with NGOs and PMCs in February 2008 after which a few PMCs were revived. He added, “Till date, only 324 parks out of 787 have been given to the PMCs for maintenance while the remaining parks have neither been handed over to PMC nor are being maintained by the MC.” While MC spends Rs 7 crore annually on the Horticulture wing in the form of salaries of staff, the green belts in the city are in a sorry state. In 2000, the corporation had handed over 487 parks to the PMCs but this year the number has reduced because of delay tactics or lack of interest of the MC authorities, rued the members.Park-area shrinksApart from the lack of maintenance of parks, Chana complained that without taking PMCs into confidence, the MC has reduced the grant in many parks by reducing the area of the parks. Owing to this, lesser number of PMCs are coming forward.
