A public NIT garden in Gurukrupaa Layout, Mitra Nagar beside Nag Nalla, meant for children and senior citizens to relax and play, has turned into a garbage dumping ground due to neglect and lack of maintenance for the last two years. It was seen infested with waist-high grass, wild creepers, broken benches and heaps of waste taking over the open space, after a ground visit by ‘The Hitavada’ on Thursday. Open benches with blue and white stripes are seen amid knee-high weeds and shrubs. The iron gates are rusted and covered with creepers, while an electrical transformer inside the premises is engulfed by dense growth, posing risk of mishap. Residents said the place was once usable but now no one wants to enter.

 

Children have no safe place to play and elders have nowhere to sit or walk. Even worse, outside the garden wall, a massive heap of garbage - dry leaves, plastic bags, flex banners, cardboard and household waste has been dumped on the road, spreading foul smell. Residents alleged that sanitary workers themselves dump collected waste there. “We are living right in front of this garden, but we cannot open our windows due to mosquitoes and unbearable stench. For two years we have been complaining, still no one comes to clean it,” said Puja Vighe, a local. The corporator said that, “I have received complaints from Gurukrupaa Layout residents. The garden has not been maintained properly for long. I will speak to the concerned officials and ensure that the wild growth is cleared and the garden is restored for public use at the earliest,”. Residents have now asked the civic body to clean the area and restore it as a proper garden at the earliest.