BHUBANESWAR: Spit-stain marks on the walls, plastic bottles and packets strewn across, ill-maintained rides and overgrown bushes - these are not a scene from any abandoned park in the city, but from the BDA City Centre - previously known as Nicco Park - that is frequented by tourists and locals every day. The amusement hub is jointly owned by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and a private company. The lone recreation park in the city, that was inaugurated in 1998, today has lost its sheen. While one side of the park is well-maintained with beautiful landscaping, the southern side is an example of the sorry state-of-affairs. Even as all the 15 rides are functional, many of them are not maintained well. Overgrown vegetation in many parts of the park is another problem. Bushes and trees have taken over a portion of the park which leaves no space for development works. Due to lack of proper cleaning, the plastic bags in which visitors bring in food items to the park can be found littered everywhere. Though paddle boating facility was rolled out in the lake inside the park in 1998, the project collapsed with the lake becoming dry and shrinking in 2003 due to poor maintenance. The 30 paddle boats that were introduced in the lake then, are now lying broken near two small ponds in the park. Only three of these boats are being used for boating facilities inside one of these ponds which is polluted and covered with a layer of algae. Sources said owners of the houses that share boundary with the park often dump garbage inside the park around the boundary wall which is one of the biggest impediments in maintenance work. BDA Chief Horticulturist and in-charge of parks, Ashok N Dhar said the property had been handed over to a private company. “The maintenance and upkeep of the City Centre is the responsibility of the private party and BDA has no involvement in it,” he added. The CEO of BDA City Centre Kalyan Mohanty, however, said there are plans for major development works in the park. “The southern side of the park will be renovated and an architect has also been hired for the purpose. All the rides in this portion will be relocated to the northern side and given a new look. Some new rides will also be installed and we are in the process of generating revenue for the purpose. A meeting in this regard is scheduled soon,” he said.
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