The Himachal Pradesh government will create 100 Panchvati parks and gardens for creating recreational space for the elderly in all 78 blocks of the rural areas of the state to facilitate senior citizens.

State Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Minister Virender Kanwar said the Panchwati scheme had been notified by the department and it was launched by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur to set up parks with outdoor sports and play areas.

“These parks will be primarily designed for elderly citizens to improve their fitness and wellbeing.

Under the scheme, in the first phase land site has been identified for construction of these parks at Gohar in district Mandi, Bangana in district Una, Banjar and Naggar in district Kullu, Kaza in Lahaul-Spiti district, Nagrota Bagwan and Sulah in Kangra district, Paonta Sahib in Sirmaur district, Tissa and Bhatiyat in Chamba district, Kalpa in Kinnaur district, Kandaghat in Solan district, Rohru in Shimla district and Nadaun in Hamirpur district.

A wide range of activities would be made available in these parks to meet physical, emotional and social needs of elderly,” he added.

Kanwar said the initial work on such parks had been started at some places and construction work on parks in all above-mentioned blocks will be completed this year. While the remaining 80 parks and gardens will be developed in phase manner by December 2021.

He said each park will have state-of-art exercise and recreational equipment, one metre wide and 150 metres long stone pitched jogging track, walking tracks, an exclusive space for yoga and meditation classes, solar lights among other amenities. The senior citizens especially living in remote, tribal and backward areas will be able to spend their time fruitfully in these parks, he added.

“The park and garden will be built at a cost of around Rs 10 lakh  and  around Rs 10 crore will be spent on construction of 100 such parks throughout the state with budget provision from convergence with MNREGA, Swachh Bharat Mission (Rural) and 14th Finance Commission.

Additional amounts may be sanctioned at hilly and tough terrain where construction cost is likely to be increased significantly due to tough geographical locations.

Each park will have benches, flower bed, boundary wall, fencing around the park, toilets, dustbins, exercise equipments & recreational equipments, stone pitched pat, Ayurvedic and  medicinal plants such as amla, neem, tulsi and aloevera,” he said.

Kanwar further stated that shade grass (lawn) will also be grown in the parks to beautify them for health-conscious citizens besides other basic amenities for aged people.

These parks will also be used for promotion of sales of local products of Self Help Groups to generate additional economic activity and employment avenues at the village level.

These parks will be set up by experts from rural development departments in land areas ranging from one bigha to two bighas in all 78 blocks of the state while its upkeep and maintenance will be managed by local Panchayati Raj Institutions. The park areas in higher hills and tribal areas will be approximately one bigha while in plain lower areas the area can be extended up to two bighas or beyond depending on identification  or availability of suitable land in the region,” he added.

He added the state government has set up the target of setting up Panchavati parks/gardens with age-specific design features.