Kupwara: The lone public cum Children Park within the radius of the main town in North Kashmir’s Kupwara district is craving for maintenance for a long time leaving the visitors in dismay.
The Zangli park located near the famous gate of Lolab valley holding the importance of having the utmost natural beauty and passes has been turned into a garbage dumping site with no check or attention from the administration.
Expressing their serious resentment against the authorities for failing to maintain the park, the locals cum the visitors told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), that the place must be maintained so that it can host more people in times to come as it used to in the initial days since the spot is seen as an important point by all those heading to world-famous Lolab Valley.
“Seeing this place in this rotten condition honestly disheartens and forces an individual not to visit this place again. This place we can say is the face of Lolab valley which had been turned into a shambles spot having broken and unmaintained things even the wooden required items here have been burnt down,” the locals said while blaming the authorities for not maintaining it.
One of the residents sitting in the park along with the family members said that this place initially had proper lighting, washroom facility for the visitors “but with time everything has gradually vanished due to the lack of care from the authorities.”
“This place is slowly turning into a garbage dumping site,” he said.
Another local Junaid Ahmad said, “that whenever it rains this place turns into a pond due to a poor drainage system since nothing has been maintained properly.”
The residents blamed the government for giving assurance but not implementing them on the ground.
“These days the administration is making big announcements and assurances to promote tourism in Jammu and Kashmir but it seems they’re just words,” they said.
“The authorities have the opportunity to make the place a tourist destination and promote similar activities since very few efforts are required for this naturally gifted place,” locals said.
The aggrieved residents said that there is no other resting place within the main town other than this park and it must be maintained and the work should start soon.
Locals urged the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir to personally intervene into the matter and direct the district administration to maintain the park—(KNO)
