Cry out for open spaces

Shrinking green spaces are a perennial feature of urban environment with swathes of open green spaces of parks and recreational areas fighting for survival as spaces get allocated for residential purposes.

While the cry for more recreational spaces grows, in some areas playing and recreational activities spill over onto streets, footpaths, squares and even to wadis and seafronts.

Sports teachers and coaches in some of the schools and at the Baushar Sports Complex are seized of this problem.

While teachers are trying to motivate for increased participation in all school activities, coaches at the Baushar Sports Complex would like more girls and boys, men and women to avail of the coaching and training facilities at the complex.

Expatriate Indian Mohammed Osama Rawat says a country that engages in sports and physical activities on a regular basis is a nation that stays fit and moves forward.

Parents argue that children do not have adequate space for physical activities such as games and exercises. Babu Bharatan and his wife Suneeti who live in Ghubra said their area was predominantly overcrowded. It is a commercial area with no recreational facilities for their two school children. “However, both are able to keep up with their football practice by making use of the ISG playing field, thanks to the generosity of the school authorities,” says Babu.

Rishabh Vaid, living in Hamriya, says, “This part of the city is horribly congested and it is almost impossible to engage even in simple activities like morning or evening walks or jogging to stay fit.”

Some parents let their children play in the nearby wadis. “I don’t mind my children playing cricket or football in these wadis,” says Usman Jamali, a Pakistani civil engineer. “The only drawback is that the ground out here is hard, rough.”

But Muscat Municipality claims a healthy balance between spaces allocated for urban dwelling and urban green spaces is being maintained.

Muscat Municipality Deputy Chairman Ali Al Hassani points to the fact that dedicated green spaces in the shape of parks and gardens have been well maintained and cared for.