MULTAN: The parks of the city were losing attraction for citizens especially families due to poor security arrangements as there were no trained security guards have been deployed under the supervision of the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA).
More than 79 parks were being supervised by the Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) where only 70 to 80 security guards have been deployed with no weapons and no proper training. These guards were actually gardeners, cleaners and other staff members of PHA who were performing the duties of security guards along with their own duties. The guards have been given whistles, yellow jackets and caps only to deal with any emergency-like situation.
The number of families was almost zero at parks due to the missing security arrangements as most of the youngsters were there to harass females and families.
Talking to APP here on Sunday, Muhammad Nawaz said that he was a government servant and he used to visit parks with his family for last ten years but now he avoids visiting the parks because of missing security arrangements.
He said that no one was at parks where the complaints regarding missing valuables, harassment and other issues could be registered.
He said that the PHA administration was only focusing on development work to attract families but the security arrangements were one of the major facilities to attract families by providing a sense of confidence and security to them.
Another citizen, Noman Malik said that pickpocketing, harassment and valuables theft were turning the rising issue at parks.
He said that no one can feel secure in these public places especially when he was visiting parks with family.
He said that whenever you lost something in the park, it was impossible that you could find that in the park.
When contacted, the Spokesman of PHA Jalaluddin said that the department had contacted a private security company last year through which 60 security guards had been deployed with weapons at different parks of the city.
He said that the one-year contract with the private security company has been ended last year and now the plan was being made to renew the contract with security guards.
He added that a procedure was underway for the selection of security guards by the PHA administration and said that there would be more than 20 to 30 security guards in the department and would be deployed at parks.
Keeping in view the ongoing law and order situation in the country, improper security arrangements could turn into mishaps.
The Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA) must deploy trained security guards with weapons at parks to provide a sense of security for families otherwise, all ongoing development projects and other facilities would bring zero results in attracting families to parks.
