Youths who use the Alphonsa playground in Mandavelipakkam are frustrated with the fact that this huge ground is being used as open-air godown to store the newly-made hawker stalls by Chennai Corporation.
This place is located on South Canal Bank Road.
Over 100 stalls which were to have been handed over to chosen hawkers who do business on the Marina beach but the pandemic and protests by some hawkers has long delayed this project.
So the civic body continues to let the stalls occupy this playground.
But Mandaveli residents are not amused any more. Tens of dozens of youths who play cricket and football here say that it is time the civic body moves out these stalls and releases the playground.
“We have been restricted to our homes for weeks and now when we want to unwind in a ground, we find we do not have the space,” said one young resident of Lazarus Church Road.
Alphonsa ground, as this place is called locally, has been the second home for generations of people, who in their youth trained in football and went on to play for many city clubs and create a name for themselves.
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It’s sad to see public space like Alphonse park in Mandavalli, being occupied by Administration for storage. Our youngsters have to play cricket in and around our streets , residents start shouting at them , then they’re forced to move away. At a time when children are stuck at home online…where do they for play and a breath of fresh air !!