#GoodNews| A First-Of-Its Kind Park For The Differently-Abled In Panchkula

The park in Panchula, which was developed along the lines of Bengaluru's Coles Park, is probably the first in north India that is disabled-friendly

V. Kumara Swamy Published Oct 28, 2019 00:00:00 IST
2019-10-28T00:00:00+05:30
2019-10-25T16:27:33+05:30
#GoodNews| A First-Of-Its Kind Park For The Differently-Abled In Panchkula Images courtesy Reliance Foundation

A rubberized floor, a trampoline that a wheelchair-bound person can jump on and a basket-like seat on springs, on which children with low motor control can sit and bounce: These are some of the play equipment designed by the experts at a one-of-a-kind park at Haryana's Panchkula town. This specially designed park was thrown open to the differently-abled children and others recently.

"The state's Social Justice and Empowerment department came up with the idea and handed over the 0.5 acre land to us. We developed it within two months," says Rommel Rajain, vice president, corporate social responsibility with Reliance Industries' Model Economic Township Limited in Haryana. The park may be designed, keeping the differently-abled in mind, but it is being used by others too.  

“We employed some of the most well-known experts in the field to come up with the flooring and the equipment in the park. The most important thing for us was to make it safe for the differently abled to use the equipment at the park with confidence and enjoy themselves,” says Rajain. 

Some of the other equipment at the park include, wheelchair-friendly balancing boards, specially-designed swings and musical instruments such as xylophones and drums. 


With a ramp at the gate, easily accessed pathways by the wheelchair-bound and at innovations, Bengaluru’s Coles Park was the first to be declared disabled-friendly way back in 2006.

Since then, cities such as Mumbai, Chennai and Mangaluru have developed parks along similar lines. But there was nothing of this scale in north India so far. The park in Panchkula can claim to fill that void. Only if there were more such parks around the country.

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