Morning walkers will have to wait for locked parks to open
LUCKNOW: Morning walkers will have to wait a bit longer before they can stroll in their favourite parks again in the state capital, as the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), which maintains all big parks, is yet to announce a date for opening its facilities to morning walkers.
On Saturday morning, when Sumit Yadav, a pilot with a private airline reached Lohia Park in Gomti Nagar at 6am, he found the entry gates locked. Though dejected, Yadav decided to walk around the park’s periphery.
“My airline will resume flights from May 25. My flight schedule is likely to be in the first week of June. So, I decided to get back into my gruelling flying schedule by starting with jogging,” Yadav said.
“With commercial activities resuming in the city gradually, I thought parks must have opened for the public. But I was dejected to find the Lohia Park still locked,” he added.
Many others who arrived there were also left disappointed.
Among all parks in the state capital, the lush green Janeshwar Misra Park and the Lohia Park in Gomti Nagar are the favourites among morning walkers. Outside Janeshwar Misra Park, Sarika Chowdhary was inquiring with the supervisor Anil Tewari to find out why the park was still locked when other activities have resumed in the city and shops were opening.
“I was expecting the park to be open (on Saturday). No one here knows when parks will open for the public,” said Sarika.
“Maintenance and sanitization of parks is going on. Before opening them, it is necessary to properly sanitize them. We will soon reopen parks,” said LDA udyan department incharge SS Sisodia.
Similarly, Botanical Garden has not reopened.
“We have decided not to open the Botanical Garden to walkers considering the spike in Covid-19 positive cases,” said NBRI director SK Barik.