Of the many factors that contribute to Chandigarh’s status of City Beautiful is its green cover. Almost 35 per cent of the city area is covered in green. While the Rose Garden may be famous all over the world for its sheer variety of roses, though less known to the world by their names, there are numerous lush green gardens that add to the beauty of the city. Well-maintained parks in many residential areas as well as the green belts set the city apart.

BUDGET AND FUNCTIONS
The Municipal Corporation has a list of functions that need to be performed to ensure that the green cover is maintained. These include providing and fixing railings, making provisions for children, benches, removal of parthenium weed as well as wild growth, plantation and maintenance of trees and shrubs along road sides, open spaces, parks, among others and removal of dry trees.
There are around 15 gardens and 45 green belts in the city. The well laid out walking paths, colourful benches and the landscaping has made the gardens a welcome spot for people of all age groups.
Moreover, while the allocation in the MC budget for the horticulture department was Rs 300 lakh the previous year, it has been raised to Rs 350 lakh this year.
Arun Kansal, Executive Engineer, Horticulture Division says the budget allocation is for machinery, maintenance, development of new belts, among others, as four new belts are being developed in Sectors 7, 24, 29 and 39. “The city is one of best in the country where green belts are concerned. We are working towards making it even better.
Parminder Kaur, a housewife who’s mornings being with the daily walk at Fragrance Garden in Sector 36, says that the development of gardens is a welcome step. “With the flowers blooming, the well-kept garden provides a relief every time that I come here. It is so refreshing,” she says.

PRIVATISATION
The MC is gradually handing over the charge of maintenance of green belts to private hands and five gardens have already been given to private players. Tenders are being called for the privatisation of six more gardens and green belts. The responsibility of the upkeep of the garden lies with the contractor. In exchange they are allowed to put up advertisements that they get.
An official of the MC informs that though there was resentment in the unions because of the privatisation move, the results have been positive. “Here, the contractors are responsible for hiring labour. It is more expensive for us to hire permanent staff. Moreover, gardens are being cleaned regularly and the step has indeed proved beneficial,” the official said.
MC Councillor Davinder Singh Babla says that the staff with the horticulture department is not sufficient to maintain the large number of green belts. Privatisation therefore is a good idea, he said.

CONTRIBUTION OF RESIDENTS
While in some sectors residents or Resident Welfare Associations have taken charge of maintaining parks in their areas, such instances are not many.
SS Sandhu, president of Sector 45 Resident Welfare Association, has developed the park opposite his house and the park has won prizes for four consecutive years. Sandhu said that he, along with eight other families in the area, collected money to develop the park.
This former horticulturist took special interest to develop a park into a state-of-art park, which has now become a boon for the people of the area. However, such examples are not many.
Former mayor Anu Chatrath opines that the residents need to come forward and contribute towards maintenance of parks within the residential areas. Privatisation of parks and green belts near the V-3 roads is possible as the visibility of advertisements is more. However, this is not the case with the parks within sectors. It would be difficult to have contractors for their maintenance, she said.
It had been proposed in the House that the residents be charged up to Rs 15 per household for maintenance of parks within their sector. However the proposal has not been implemented so far.