Locals decry ill maintainence of Sher Bagh park in Anantnag
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Locals decry ill maintainence of Sher Bagh park in Anantnag

Post by on Tuesday, July 19, 2022

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Anantnag, July 18: One of the oldest and few functional public parks in Anantnag Town is Sher-Bagh, which also is the home of a spring which provides fresh water to many localities of the town. It has many water channels and small ponds where in summer people take a bath to beat the summer heat. But the locals complain that for several years this public park in the heart of the town is not maintained properly and has lost the glory it once had.
When talking to Rising Kashmir local business owners and residents said that the way this park was 10- 15 years back is not the same. “The fish population in the ponds has drastically decreased due to the pollution and ill maintenance. When I was a kid the number of fishes in the ponds was such that the surface was never visible. And the water was so clean that people directly drank it from the pond and the connected channels. Now the whole water is polluted and not maintained”, says Manzoor Ahmad, a local resident. 
He further added, “Despite the fact it is a widely used park because of the market and the district maternity hospital near it, it is not cleaned the way it should be. People from far-flung areas prefer this place because of the trees and water to rest.
The land of the park is under the Waqf board and is currently maintained by the Department of Floriculture. Talking to Rising Kashmir, District Floricultural Officer Mr Sadaqat Ali said, “They are trying their best to maintain the park but lack staffing. We have already placed 2- 3 gardeners there and they are doing their jobs of cleaning and maintaining the turf which includes grass and flower beds. As far as the ponds and water channels are concerned those things don’t come in our jurisdiction.” 
A few years back Sher-Bagh had a major renovation cum revamp when ponds, water channels and the park as a whole were beautified. But locals complain that the whole process was poorly done and the task of the beautification was not properly executed. Regarding this when Chief Executive Officer Municipal Council Anantnag, Mr Mohammad Jahangir said that they are aware of the park's condition and have included it in the AMRUT-II scheme (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) under which Sher-Bagh will be renovated and further beautified.
 

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