done...Aurangabad: Protesting against the lack of maintenance at city’s gardens, civic activists on Monday have put up cut-outs of wild animals in the gardens, saying that unchecked growth of grass and weeds have reduced the gardens into jungles which are now fit for animals and not for people.Cut-outs of lion, deer, bear and foxes were put up at several gardens and open spaces, including Prithvi Kitli Garden, Nana Nani Park, the ground near MIT school, and Swami Vivekanand Udyan in N-4 Cidco. Amid the 4ft to 8ft tall grass and weeds, the cut-outs looked like a perfect fit.Every monsoon, the gardens under the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation see grass, shrubs and wild plants mushrooming. Over the rainy season, there are hardly any efforts to remove the grass. These weeds dry up after the rains but even then the AMC doesn’t clear the garden of them.Civic activist Rahul Ingle said that repeated written and verbal complaints to the AMC have not resulted in any action. “The local residents use these gardens for morning walk, jogging and yoga, while children play there in the evening. But due to the weeds the gardens have become home to snakes and insects. The gardens are not fit for humans but only for animals that’s why the animal cut outs.”Sometimes, fearing snakes entering their houses, local residents pay for the clean-up of the gardens.Mayor Nandkumar Ghodele had earlier said that the AMC did not have enough staff to undertake maintenance and therefore the work would be done through contract.On Monday, Ghodele said the estimate for the contractual work has been sent to the municipal commissioner. “The maintenance proposal is awaiting the technical sanction of the commissioner. There is no shortage of funds. Once the sanction is received the work will be done.”

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