A distant memory may be of your childhood summers, the holiday season meant sacred congregations at the neighbourhood park playing cricket or simple tag. The current generation, however, seems deprived of that childhood joy with the city's public parks dilapidating or upgrading to meet modern demands. Several parks lie in close proximity to busy roads, proving more of a danger
Parents have urged the city corporation to place fences to uncovered playgrounds since many parks lie next to or near roads. Despite the corporation spending several lakhs of funds in developing existing parks, it has failed to have a possible playground for youth to play. Parks are currently filled with several features, games like cricket and football cannot be played within its limits. Youth then find other venues like gullies and even the parched Cauvery to play their games, despite many locations being dangerously close to busy roads.
R Kamal, a young engineering student from Tiruchy, said, "My friends and I gather on the playground near the Uzhavar Santhai. Since most of the available playgrounds are used by professional players, we are left with fewer options to either take the G-corner ground, EVR college ground and Uzhavar Santhai ground. We have to go early to find a possible spot, as more boys from other parts of the city come there too.
Earlier, there were corporation parks left for us to play, but as the corporation has started building special attraction for filling the empty space, we choose such spots to play. "He also added that as there is an active road near the ground, the players had to be twice as cautious to keep their mind in the game and also on the road to avoid accidents.
According to the recent report released by the Regional Meteorology Department, Chennai, the temperature hit 99.86 Fahrenheit on Sunday and warned people to avoid exposure during mid-noon.
