PABNA. Aug 7 Although Pa bna pouraahava was upgraded to a Bret clara pourashabha in 1989. there la no children s park aa yel In thia town The sufferings of the children and the physical and mental development of these future citizens are being hampered severely

During the 24 years of Pakistan, however, foundation stone laying cerc^nonies for the construcUon of a number of childrens parks were found to be held on a number of oc casions and that two in so many plates of the then mu nicipality Tint. in every such case the matter ended there After laying of foundation stone no further work was under taken and as auch, no children a park was ever estab Ushed in this town during the long 24 years of the existence of Pakistan

Following liberation of Bangladesh, however the sit uation changed only slightly bul not basically One children park was established near the central shaheed minar over the former S D O court maidan although the area in those days was almost free from children as the area was very thinly populated Hence, the selec

tlon of site for the establishment of children s park was not proper and many people opposed the establishing the park at the said site but the pourashabha authorities of those days paid no heed to that opposition

Due to such Improper site selection It was found that the park could not attract consid erable number of children for whom the park was actually set up. Besides being thlnly-popu lated, the area was disadvantageous for a few more reaaons two. These are:

1) The area became full of litigant public, lawyers, their clerks, police, court official* and employees from morning everyday UH the evening Hence, no mother could bring her child there.

2) When those people left the area, it took almost a deserted look and hence also women dared not come their with their children

3) On the east of the park, the north Bengal highways passed through and children were not safe to play over there due to apprehension of accidents

As a result the park failed to attract even the poor num-tier of children that lived in

the area and hence, within few years, the childrens park turned into a grazing field of the cartels and all the playing Instruments set up there, were either stolen away or were damaged Now it can hardly be identified as a park.

Now. inspite of the above disadvantages, the place can be again turned into a childrens park since t£e population In the surrounding areas has enormously increased and quite naturally the number of children has also risen much But the Parashabha authorities are reluctant to undertake any such project.

When asked. Advocate Shikh Shahidullah Bachus Chairman. Pabna pourashava told The Dally Star that as yet they have not prepared any scheme for setting up any such childrens park in Pabna town due to their fund constraints

The chairman, however admitted that at least five chll drens parks in the five wards of the pourashabha needed to be set up with all modern facil Ilies they had no fund no land . and no sponsor to meet this need

Only through government grants, if available the idea could be materialised he said