A trade fair at G-Town ground in Bistupur, Jamshedpur. Telegraph picture

It is a common sight in Jamshedpur — children playing cricket and football on the streets. For, playgrounds are fast disappearing and being replaced by residential apartments and commercial zones.

Once a lush green playground, the Sundernagar Sporting Club now houses a girls’ hostel and two regularly expanding residential plots. A witness to the gradual construction over the years, the playground fails to attract youngsters, thanks to the political interference that has managed to successfully transform the place into a little more than a vacant land.

Anjali Bose, a social activist and resident of the area rues: “It is really sad to see youngsters play on the roads due to lack of proper playgrounds, but nothing much can be done.” It has been a couple of years since the authorities of Sundernagar Sporting Club filed a case but are yet to receive a favourable nod from the administration. All they demanded was proper fencing to safeguard the playground from further encroachment.

“We have made several appeals but the government seems to have turned a deaf ear. It has been a year and we are yet to receive a response to our letter addressed to East Singhbhum deputy commissioner Nitin Madan Kulkarni,” says Bose.

False assurances are given but nothing fruitful is done, points out another resident, whose son was a regular visitor to the playground. “We used to conduct several cricket and football tournaments earlier, but now, people prefer to keep away from this place largely due to all the construction work,” she adds.

Similar is the state of the playground near Bhatia Park in Kadma. In order to save the Tata Steel ground, several protests and demonstrations have been made, but results are less than satisfactory.

Popularly called the Tilkamajhi Maidan, sit and draw competitions were an annual feature here, but with a Bajrang Bali temple now in place, residents fear the encroachment effect is creeping in slowly but steadily.

“But we are in position to fight it out. We had submitted our proposals to authorities a long time ago but nothing has been done,” states Sanjukta Choudhury, secretary of Sanskriti Mahila Manch, an NGO that has been trying to save the playground from further invasion.

But the banyan tree placed adjacent to the temple seems to be an indicator of constructions in the pipeline. Many a times, people in power lure some residents to take away support, adds Choudhury.

Rohit Singh, a young resident of Kadma is quite disappointed. “Because of the absence of proper grounds, we are either forced to play computer games or resort to chatting sessions,” he says.

To add to the list of vanishing playgrounds are a few in Mango that today house large residential complexes. Moreover, there are also a few playgrounds that are home to various trade and handicraft fairs for the better part of the year.

The G-Town ground in Bistupur is a case in point. Rented out for commercial purposes, youngsters seem to get little time to unwind and play sports. “The ground is always occupied in the winter months and that’s also the cricket season. Hence, we cannot play here as often as we would like to,” says Sharat Singh, a local resident.

Locals seem adamant, but if authorities do not respond and this dangerous trend continues, playgrounds could soon be a thing of the past.