Mangaluru: Visitors to the popular Kadri Park are facing severe inconvenience due to the deplorable condition of its public washrooms. Plagued by poor hygiene, rampant vandalism, and a complete lack of accessible facilities for specially-abled individuals, the toilets have become a major point of concern for regular park-goers and families.Caretakers from the horticulture department, who are tasked with the park’s daily upkeep, have expressed immense frustration over the situation. According to the staff, the premises are frequently misused by miscreants during late-night hours. These individuals allegedly utilise the washrooms for alcohol consumption and routinely vandalise the sanitary fittings, breaking pipes, doors, and fixtures. This constant destruction of public property makes it nearly impossible for the maintenance staff to ensure basic cleanliness, leaving the facilities in an entirely unusable condition for morning walkers and daytime tourists. The absence of barrier-free infrastructure further compounds the crisis, rendering the facilities entirely inaccessible to physically-challenged individuals.Despite caretakers claiming to have made multiple escalations to the Kadri park development committee regarding these nocturnal disruptions and hygiene threats, no concrete security measures have been deployed to protect the park’s sanctity.However, responding to the ongoing civic issue, Dakshina Kannada DC Darshan HV and chairperson of Kadri park development committee, denied receiving formal grievances from ground staff. “The administration has not received any information about such escalations regarding problems in maintenance for the park,” he said.Clarifying administrative jurisdictions, he added that the responsibility of maintenance and resolving such matters falls directly under the horticulture department. Promising a permanent infrastructure upgrade, Darshan said that The current public washrooms are set to be replaced with two new washrooms, and the work towards this project is expected to begin after the rainy season.
