JOIN USCorporates prefer to adopt parks over edu institutions
While parks and road medians are usually adopted and developed by corporate houses and individuals as part of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) ‘Namma Bengaluru, Nanna Koduge’ - Our Bangalore My Contribution (NBNK) project; educational institutions, traffic islands and hospitals are often neglected.
“Corporate houses prefer to adopt parks and medians as they involve relatively low maintenence costs when compared to other public properties,” said a BBMP zonal joint commissioner, who is part of the NBNK project.
A Palike official said that it may cost around Rs 20,000 per acre to maintain a park, depending on the area.
However, he added that maintaining a school or a hospital is not only expensive but also involves added responsibilities such as buying medical equipment, drugs and improving building infrastructure, among others.
As per information available on the BBMP website, barring East, South and West zones, no hospital, traffic island or educational institution has been adopted in the remaining Palike zones - RR Nagar, Bommanahalli, Yelahanka, Mahadevpura and Dasarahalli.
Additional commissioner (Education, Welfare, Finance, Advertisement) N V Prasad denied the cost factor involved in adopting BBMP educational institutions.
“Till date, I have not received any enquiries on adopting schools. Corporates, non-governmental organisations or interested individuals need not adopt the entire school. They can help us in a small way even by donating tables, chairs, etc,” he said.
BBMP South Zone
Presently, the BBMP South Zone tops the list in terms of adoption with as many as 83 BBMP properties signed up for a three-year maintenance contract. Out of the 83 properties, about 41 are parks and about eight are road medians. Followed by East zone (58 properties) and West zone (46), respectively.
Mayor N Shanthakumari maintained that a few corporates adopt public properties depending on the visibility and publicity they get. “The core areas are neglected and properties are adopted only at commercial places. Parks are in demand because people throng there in huge numbers.
On the other hand, schools and BBMP hospitals are visited only by poor people. Soon, I will inspect the places adopted by private parties to check the progress and activities undertaken by them.”
Transport and District In-charge Minister Ramalinga Reddy told Deccan Herald that so far the response to the NBNK project has been good and recently, a review meeting was held to discuss it’s progress.