Taking an initiative against the plans of the administration to take land from the Gandhi Park and planned axing of green trees here for road widening, the Citizens For Green Doon group on Sunday conducted a mass drive among the morning walkers at Gandhi Park. The morning walkers expressed their opposition to the plans of the administration and appended their names on a signature campaign sheet opposing the Government’s move.
It is pertinent to mention here that widening of the Subhash Road from lansdowne Chowk towards the Secretariat under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) would take 12 feet land from Gandhi Park and Parade Ground to widen the lansdowne and Globe Chowk.
Most of those contacted by CFGD were regular users of Gandhi Park for a number of years and were visibly shocked at the proposal. Rathi Agnihotri, a regular morning walker in the park, for last 25 years, said that it was unbelievable that the Government was planning to give off land from the park for road and said that in fact, the need of the hour was to close the road in between Gandhi Park and Parade Ground and make both the Gandhi Park and Parade Ground one continuous park to cater to the growing population of Dehradun and the need of people to have a place for walking in the mornings and evenings. At present, the park was getting over crowded, added Agnihotri.
Visitors to the park also appended their names on a signature campaign sheet opposing the Government's move. Speaking on the occasion, the CFGD chief coordinator Dr Nitin Pandey informed that the group was going to take out a rally at noon on January 26 from Gandhi Park main gate and he appealed to all citizens to participate in it to make it a success. It should be mentioned here that many mature green trees were recently axed by the authorities on Parade Ground for facilitating the widening of the road and intersection.