Six parks in the city would soon boast of open gymnasiums with state-of-the-art equipment.

The open gymnasium would be opened in Police Colony (Anisabad), Naveen Park (Rajvanshi Nagar), Children's Park (SK Puri), Veer Kunwar Singh Park (Hardinge Road), Shivaji Park (Kankerbagh) and Punaichak Park (Officers' Colony). The parks would add play equipment for children apart from offering drinking water facility, additional benches, high-mast solar light and sow good quality grass among other arrangements.

The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by Patna commissioner Anand Kishore on Monday. He said the open gymnasium and other facilities would become operational after the elections. "We would start work shortly. We would try to issue the work tenders before the model code of conduct comes into force. However, the facilities would be operational only after the elections," he said. He, however, could not tell about the estimated expenditure on the park project.

"Moreover, we would construct ticket counters in the parks and charge nominal money as entry fee," he said.

The decision on renovating the 15 existing parks in the densely populated areas was also taken in Monday's meeting. "We would hire consultants to look into the maintenance work," said Kishore.

Residents were happy to know about the upcoming facilities at the city parks. Navneeti Prasad (42), a bank official and a resident of SK Puri, said: "The decision of starting open gyms at city parks would promote a healthy lifestyle among residents and give them a chance to work out amid nature."

The commissioner decided to develop playing and recreation facilities at six government high schools - Patna Collegiate, Shastri Nagar Boys' High School, Shastri Nagar Girls' High School, Gardanibagh Boys High School, Rajendra Nagar High School and Jalan High School (Patna City) - in the state capital.

"Instructions have also been issued to district sports officers to motivate cricket, football and volleyball championships, both at the seniors' and the juniors' levels. They have been asked to organise inter-school competitions and they have also been asked to create a sports calendar according to which they would organise various sport activities throughout the year," said a source.