Bhubaneswar: In order to facilitate children and adults, especially those with special needs, to enjoy free time without fearing their safety, the Smart City Bhubaneswar has come up with the first-ever fully-equipped Sensory Park in the city.
Located in Saheed Nagar area, the park has exclusive features meant for the special children. It has been developed with an investment of Rs 93 lakh by the Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) over an area of 0.37 acre.
The park has insulated pathways laid with ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) flooring, playing equipment for physically challenged kids, special open-air gym equipment, ensuring adherence to the Universal Access Guidelines, safety to the users with clean environment and shrubs and trees planted with theme of child-friendly components.
The children’s rides in the Sensory Park include wheel chair swing, two-seater swing, bucket swing, multiline swing, single seater spring rider, musical poles, sound play, drum track, musical panel, sound play table, shoulder builder, 3-seater ground-level merry-go-round (MGR), multi-seater MGR, wheelchair MGR, slides, two-seater spring see-saw, double bar see-saw, monkey bar climber, ball pool, adventure climber and multi play.
There is also a Braille wall of alphabets, basketball pole, adequate lighting, security room, underground water tank and dustbins.
“By providing a park with the special features, the BSCL aims at helping the physically challenged children and their kin during early morning and evening hours. Provision of play equipment and open-air gym will also encourage the adults to remain fit and smart,” said CEO of BSCL Sanjay Kumar Singh.
It may be noted that Bhubaneswar had topped the Smart City Challenge for its proposal of a child-friendly theme-based proposal. As many as 100 cities from across the nation participated in the challenge.
