It is most unfortunate that Horticulture Minister Umesh Katti is persisting with his completely ill-conceived and ill-advised move to make entry into the two biggest lung spaces in Bangalore — the Lal Bagh and the Cubbon Park — to its citizens as difficult and as cumbersome as possible. After strong protests from the people, the horticulture department has dropped, for the time being, the proposal to charge an entry fee for morning walkers and joggers in these two parks, but the minister and his officials have announced that they are ‘determined’ to introduce identity cards for gaining entry into the parks for ‘security reasons’. The minister also wants to take up elaborate fencing of Cubbon Park, restrict the number of entry points and introduce scanners at the gates to keep a check on ‘illegal activities’ inside these public places.
The 240-acre Lal Bagh Botanical Garden, laid out by the visionary ruler Hyder Ali in 1740 and the 250-acre Cubbon Park, created during British rule over 100 years ago, are the pride of Bangalore, earning it the sobriquet of Garden City. As the City has been allowed to grow mindlessly, turning it into a concrete jungle over the last couple of decades, these two parks have offered some respite to the harried citizens. In fact, thousands of people use these parks for their morning and evening constitutional and for their fitness regime. No government in the recent past has had the vision to create another lung space as magnificent as Lal Bagh or Cubbon Park and the authorities should have been happy to merely add more amenities to these parks so that people look after their health and well-being through exercises, rather than placing impediments in their path.
The government has no right to restrict entry into the parks and the idea of identity cards is only a ploy to introduce entry fee at a later stage. If some people indulge in ‘illegal activities’ inside parks, it is the government’s responsibility to check them through suitable security, and not harass a majority of law-abiding citizens. The fact of the matter is that the horticulture department is eyeing lakhs of rupees that can be collected from walkers every day, which will perhaps go into various pockets. The citizens of Bangalore should resist the BJP government’s ‘pernicious tax’ on breathing fresh air in the parks with all their might.
It is really attrocious on th part of Horticulture department to collect entry fees to Lal baugh and Cubbon park which were gifted to citizens by earlier administrators with a view to provide breathing space to city dwellers and visitors.As one of te ministers himself has pointed out Horticulture dept .is spending rs. 5000/on a sapling which really should not cost more than rs .10/.Why not the concerned minister not take action on erring officials.and stream line the spending in the department instead of simply harassing the public for having by such actions.It is high time our ministers are more public oriented and self thinking in approch rather than having brass ears to Beaurocrats who are only corrupt set of money making minds without concern to public
Lalbagh and Cubbon Park are world famous for the way they are maintained since time immemmorial. Many people visit Bangalore just to have a glimpse of Lalbagh and Cubbon Park. However, over the years, the beauty of these two spots is increasingly getting faded due to lack of proper maintenance and upkeep. Nevertheless, people throng these two spots in large number to enjoy the greenery. Thousands of people use Lalbagh and Cubbon Park for morning walks and for doing physical exercise. Though entry of vehicles has been restricted, vehicles continue to ply in some areas of these two historic parks. The idea of imposing entry fees for Lalbagh and Cubbon Park will highly irritate the regular users. These are gifted parks of Bangalore and every Bangalorean and for that matter the visitors to Karnataka should continue to have free access to these parks. At best, the State Government could earmark substantial financial outlay for regular maintenance and upkeep of Lalbagh and Cubbon Park, rather than resorting to imposing entry fees.
The horticulture minister should think of creating more parks rather than put restrictions and swindle public. This govt. was elected to help people have a better living, not making their life miserable. First let him table the details of the funds allocated and spend for the dept.
