Unable to maintain the parks and green belts of the city due to manpower shortage, the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh had handed over many of them to private companies some time ago. The decision proved to be a right one, as those green belts and parks are better maintained now.

Encouraged, the MC has mooted a proposal to outsource the maintenance of around a dozen more green belts and parks. Tenders for this will be floated shortly. The MC’s aim is to ensure the better maintenance of the parks and also overcome the problem of manpower shortage, officials said.

At present, there are nearly 345 gardeners with the MC, but it requires 300 more. Of these 345 gardeners, some will be repatriated to the UT Administration, as they had opted for this.

Residents’ welfare associations have approached the MC on many occasions with the request to ensure proper development of green belts and parks. Councillors have also spent major portion of their ward development funds for the purpose, but the problem of their maintenance continues to haunt the MC.

Due to poor maintenance, many of the parks and green belts, especially in the residential areas, have turned into parking lots. Former mayor Harjinder Kaur feels the Horticulture Wing of the MC is responsible for the situation to some extent.

“Funds for the development of parks and green belts are being spent without a constructive planning, as no one takes care of their development later. It is better that the MC goes for privatisation of more parks and green belts,” she said.

Kaur said the best way to ensure proper maintenance of parks and green belts is to fix responsibilities, with the help of RWAs.

Councillor Vijay Singh Rana said sub-sector parks are lying in poor condition as they are not being maintained properly. He said like the development of parks and green belts, there is need to focus on their maintenance also.

Various RWAs have also deplored the poor maintenance of parks. They alleged that there is no proper control on the spread of weeds and wild growth of grass in many of the green belts and parks.

‘Privatising is the best solution’
A senior MC official said handing over maintenance of parks to private companies is the best solution to the problem as they have found that private companies are doing a better job of it in comparison to the MC.
When the MC was formed, he said, there were only five big gardens which have now increased to 15; the number of green belts too has increased from nine to 34. In comparison, he added, the manpower required to maintain them have not been increased, which is now reflecting on the poor upkeep of parks and green belts.