The recently opened Ved Van Park located in the neighbouring sector has been experiencing overwhelming footfall. Ved Van Park, as everyone knows, showcases a variety of attractions including laser and sound shows, as well as wall paintings and sculptures featuring excerpts from the four Vedic literary works: Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda, and Atharva Veda. The place is home to over 50,000 plants, such as banyan, kalpavriksha, and coconut, which have been mentioned in Vedic literature. People from all over are coming to witness this marvel, which is also giving rise to a number of issues that are a point of concern even for sector 77.
The first issue is related to traffic management on the roads surrounding the park. The Ved Van Park sees about four to five thousand visitors on weekdays and on weekends this number doubles. Most visitors come by their own cars and when they reach the park they are left hunting for a parking spot and in the absence of any they leave their vehicles on the roads, leading to traffic jams. The residents of nearby societies have to face the brunt of it. They allege that the authorised parking attached to the park has space for only around 50 cars. This number is miniscule in comparison to the number of visitors. In a haste to make alternate arrangements the Noida Authority had recently planned to convert an adjoining green belt into parking space for additional 40 to 50 cars. It seems that the Officers of Noida Authority have conveniently overlooked the parking issue while planning the park and who gave them the ridiculous idea of converting a green belt into parking. Residents of the sector have opposed this absurd decision of the Noida Authority. Apart from the parking issue, the large number of autos and E-rickshaws outside the park cause serpentine jams that spread to the neighbouring sectors also. The Noida Authority and Noida Traffic Police must come up with a concrete plan to manage traffic or else it will become a permanent nightmare for the residents of nearby societies who are already finding it difficult to reach their homes due to the utter chaos.
The second main issue related to cleanliness. The park has a lot of plastic bottles and empty wrappers thrown around. Visitors throw their garbage here and there in spite of dustbins being placed at regular intervals. Some visitors have also been seen damaging and vandalising the art installations and sculptures. The Authority has employed sweepers to pick up the litter (thrown by irresponsible people) so that greenery does not get spoiled. Also, guards have been employed to keep a check on littering visitors. Do we need to depend on a sweeper or guards to keep our environment clean? Isn’t it a shame for us? As responsible citizens we must all develop a sense of ownership for our common civic facilities and take an effort to maintain them as we would do with our homes. It is also seen that the garbage collected from the park is thrown into an empty plot of land adjacent to the park.
The above problems can only be solved by a joint cooperation of the concerned authorities and the citizens. Both will have to play their part in ensuring that the grandeur of Ved Van is not drowned in a sea of cars and litter.
