About Birsa Munda Park,Dhanbad in Near Dhanbad Airport, Bishnupur Polytechnic, Dhanbad

Birsa Munda Park is one of the most attractive place
nearby Dhanbad city which attracts people from all age
groups. It has walkway, leisure areas, play areas toy
train, various rides for children, Canteen and plants of
different species spread over 21 acres of land. It is still
in the process of completion. However on popular
demand it was opened in the month of November 2009
and in four months time it has generated revenue of the
tune of Rs. 12 lacs.
Dhanbad did not had any park earlier. When it was thought of, we had only 21
acres of land locked barren land. With no land for approach road and fund for
construction of park it was a distant dream for us. However, we were determined to develop a park in the district. MGNREGA offered us a great opportunity to begin
with. We prepared a project report for park. Entire project was broken into
components and mapping of these components were done with respect to the
available schemes at the district level. Various components such as landscaping,
plantation, earth cutting, road construction etc were taken up from MGNREGA with
the total amount of Rs. 60.48 lacks. Very soon the barren land took an attractive
shape and the greenery also came up. Local landowners offered their own land for
approach road. Minimal Pucca works such as BhulBhulaiya,
Lawn, 11 KVA electric line, Main Gate, Ticket Counter, Guard Room, Boring and Water Supply etc. were developed from the limited fund of Rs.66.06 Lacks available with us at the district level from RSVY fund. Proposal for rest of the works such as Toy Train, Light, Generator, Rides for children, Canteen, boundary wall etc were made and sent to the Tourism Department which was readily accepted and amount of Rs.125.10 Lacks was sanctioned by the Department. Now this park is attracting more than five hundred people every day. It was an historical moment on 1 st Jan 2010 when ten thousand people gathered in the park to celebrate New Year in the newly opened park.

Further more, big rides for children such as dragon train, Mary go
round, Columbus, giant wheel, striking cars etc are being installed by SHG’s with the loan from bank under SGSY. Now construction of Sports Hostel for 34 th National Games is in progress which will not only help in conducting sports events but also training/ workshop at the State and National level.

The journey from barren land to development of Birsa Munda Park with
the convergence of various schemes such as MGNREGA, RSVY, Tourism Department, SGSY etc. is a great journey. It has not only provided growth to the
place but it has also created employment for the people along with recreational
facilities. It’s a dream came true for all of us.

The park is unique is many aspects. Firstly, it has been developed with local initiatives with the convergence of various schemes. Secondly, it is only park not in Dhanbad but in Jharkhand offers multiple activities to people from all age groups. Many of our own officers commented “its unbelievable.” But now they have learnt to translate dream into reality.

We are using our experience in replicating these activities by developing three more such projects namely (i) Lilory Sthan for religiouscumrecreational tourism, (ii) Dhokara as Children Park and (iii) Damodarpur as Mahatma Gandhi Jaivik Udyan in Dhanbad district. It is worth mentioning that again land proposed for Mahatama Gandhi Jaevik Udyan is land locked. However, people having experienced the development of Birsa Munda Park have offered their valuable land for construction of approach road.

This successful endeavour of convergence will motivate others to develop such projects with the convergence of MGNREGA with other available schemes at the district level.

Geographical Location: http://wikimapia.org/#lat=23.8279215&lon=86.4167511&z=18&l=0&m=b