Refuse of all sorts is being dumped in a 2,000-sq-ft green patch in Rajarhat-Gopalpur. Picture by Soumen Bhattacharjee

A park in Rajarhat-Gopalpur, the only patch of green in the unplanned urban pocket, is now a garbage dump.

Local residents blame the municipal authorities for the present state of the 2,000-sq-ft park, once frequented by the children and aged. “The sewage disposal squad of Rajarhat-Gopalpur municipality is regularly dumping garbage in the park,” said Arijit Basu, a resident of BC block.

But the vice-chairman of the municipality, Bhupati Sengupta, in whose ward (22) the park is located, alleges that it is the residents “who treat the park as a dump”.

He, however, admitted that the civic body had been lax in maintaining the park. The neglect is evident in the rusting swings and see-saws that now seldom draw the kids. “We have decided to revive the park,” said Sengupta.

Having “lost faith” in Sengupta, the residents of ward 22 and other adjacent wards have sought the municipal chairman’s intervention in revamping the green space.

“We have written to the chairman, as the local councillor is hardly taking any interest in the park,” said S.N. Chatterjee, a member of the BC block residents’ forum.

“The park was renovated in 2005. But after the general elections in 2006, the municipal authorities never bothered about it,” said a resident of BC block.

“We badly need the park, as there is no other open space in this unplanned settlement. Buildings are coming up everywhere, with scant regard to town planning norms. Unlike Salt Lake, there is no rule here to keep an open space in every block,” said Chatterjee.