Zakir Hussain Park near Raj Bhavan

Some people are born great, some acquire greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.

Ranchi homemaker Manju Saxena, who successfully bid to run for a year the Zakir Hussain Park, named after India’s third President and located 200m away from Raj Bhavan, doesn’t know whether to put herself in the second or third category.

The governor’s gardens may be smelling of roses, but next-door neighbour Zakir Hussain Park is a thorny reminder of municipal neglect with no drinking water, defunct fountains, defaced seats, unkempt barbed wire fence and straggly lawns.

The park, built in 1969, is one of the city’s oldest landmarks. It charges rather high entry fees — Rs 10 per person. It is also close to two prime attractions, Raj Bhavan and Machhli Ghar.

The Ranchi Municipal Corporation, which renovated this 1969 park in 2001, had handed it over to a vernacular daily that looked after its upkeep for five years. But reportedly, the newspaper group lost interest when the inflow of visitors — around 30-40 a day — stayed small.

Then, the RMC issued three tenders, inviting interested parties to run the park, the last of which was in March this year.

As is the endemic problem with most state bids, no one showed interest, but with one notable exception. A Morabadi-based homemaker Manju Saxena expressed her interest to run the park for a year and has paid Rs 3 lakh to the civic body. She took over in June.

Asked why she wanted to look after a park, Saxena said she was “passionate about horticulture”.

But Saxena may have bitten off more than she can chew. “Soon after I took over last month, I found there was no water here. I requested the civic body authorities to give the park a water connection which has not been done till date. I get water from outside and try to keep the toilets clean,” Saxena said.

Saxena says that according to the agreement, she only will maintain the park and involve herself in major repair works. She adds that she is urging the RMC officials to restart the fountains, repair the barbed wires and the chabutara.

“I spent Rs 6,000 out of my own pocket to repair the toy train that was defunct, keeping its entertainment quotient for children in mind,” she said, but stressed that the RMC was responsible for major repairs.

RMC officials completely disagree. “The park has been outsourced and one who maintains it has to make the necessary repairs. We will ask the party why things are not repaired. If required, we may find a new party,” said public relations officer Naresh Sinha.

Mayor Rama Khalkho said she did not know much about either the park’s condition or its new caretaker. “I will have to look into it.”

Both Khalkho and Sinha may take Saxena more seriously if they are reminded that the homemaker was the sole bidder, not once but in all three tenders the civic body issued to get a caretaker for Zakir Hussain Park.