KARACHI, Jan10: The once lush green lawns of Jehangir Park are now giving a look of a deserted place as the plants and grass on a major portion of the two-acre land have dried up due to lack of proper attention.

The historical park in Saddar has become a hub of anti-social activities with the influx of heroin addicts, beggars and vendors. The fixtures from the fountain area have been taken away and there is no supply of water reportedly for about a decade now. There is no electricity and the fancy lights have been stolen.

Most of the cemented benches are broken and those left are used by drug addicts to sleep. The broken iron grill paves way for anti-social elements when the gates are closed at night.

When asked about the deteriorating conditions, the in charge gardener, Pervaiz Lala, said there were 22 member staff for maintenance of the park in the past, but now there were only eight gardeners, two sweepers and four watchmen in two shifts. “The pumping machines and the grass cutter have been out of order since long,” he said.

He said the unarmed staff of the park was not in a position to stop the entry of anti-social elements.

The park also has a reading room without lights and proper furniture. The number of dailies and magazines subscribed for the reading room has been curtailed from 23 to nine. Reading room in charge Imranullah said instead of chairs, cemented benches should be fixed so that maximum people could sit in the one-room building.

Despite repeated attempts, the official of gardens and parks in Saddar Town could not be contacted.