Thinley Namgay
Thimphu does not have many recreational parks for its residents. The few that are there are in a bad state of repair.
The Children’s Park at Changlimithang and at the Thai temple stand testimony to lack of care given to these public facilities.
At the park in Changlimithang, slides are broken and swings are coming off the hook. For the children, it is dangerous. Mishaps have happened in the past.
Dawa Dema, 21, does not take her six-year-old brother to the park anymore. Safety, she said, was a major concern. “There’s not been monitoring and maintenance at the park for a long time now.”
Since its inception in 2008, Thimphu Thromde has repaired the amenities at the park only twice. Thromde got Nu 5 million for the maintenance of the parks.
Thromde’s Senior Forestry Officer, Shera Doelkar, said that the thromde had once leased the park to Care Bhutan, a youth group.”But it didn’t work.”
Caretaker at the park, Arun Majhi, said that one of the challenges was lack of adequate park light.
Shera Doelkar said that lights from the road were enough to light the park. She said that the thromde has plans to replace sand with rubber mate.
The children’s park at Changjiji is the worse. The Thromde has no jurisdiction over the park, which is today filled with garbage.
The Ozone Park at Motithang, which was graced by the Her Majesty The Gyaltsuen in 2017, is in surprisingly good condition. It is maintained well.
People come to the ecological park near YDF was for bird watching.
Thimphu does not have many recreational parks for its residents. The few that are there are in a bad state of repair.