PESHAWAR, July 12: Wazir Bagh, a famous garden in the city, looks more like a desolate wasteland with ill-managed fountains, pavements and ponds.

Situated in the downtown area of Peshawar the garden was established in 1802 and used to have a number of baradaries and ponds, where competitions of poetry recitals were held.

There also used to be a zoo on Wazir Bagh’s premises; but the British rulers shifted its animals to the Lahore zoo. Now, the place presents a sorry picture. There are no signs of baradaries, balconies and ponds anymore.

The place is now used by the locals for playing games. According to a gardener people of different age groups in the surrounding areas come to play cricket in the garden lawns. They have turned the whole place into a playground.

A group of 13 persons looks after Wazir Bagh, but it lacks equipments and tools to manage the garden. The gardeners do not even have a proper mowing machine. Wazir Bagh’s rose gardens and lawns are in a poor shape. The whole place is littered with polythene bags and garbage. The locals often jump over four gates and walls of the garden as a short cut to reaching their homes.

“The lawns are watered from Sarbandi canal, which also irrigates fields in Arbab Landi and Kotla Mohsin Khan localities. The drains in the Wazir Bagh area open into this canal, polluting the water,” a gardener told Dawn .

Broken benches, lights and dilapidated waiting rooms speak of the indifference and apathy of the Town-1 administration, which is responsible for the maintenance of Wazir Bagh.

When  the acting town Nazim of Town-I was contacted he said, as soon as the budget of Town-I was announced, some amount would be allocated for the maintenance and rehabilitation of this historical place.