Bannappa Park now a junkyard of seized vehicles, full of shanties

Bannappa Park on KG Road, the lone playground and recreation centre for children in and around Cubbonpet, has lost substantial space with the traffic police using it to store confiscated vehicles. As if that was not enough, some shanties have come up too, residents say.

“The BBMP owns the park but has turned a blind eye to its pathetic state though it is located just across the Palike’s head office. The place that could be a beautiful park has become an eyesore, due to the negligence of the BBMP and the traffic police,” rued Sathyanarayana, a resident.

Dhanakoti, a staff member at Sri Vinayaka Education Society, a school that is located nearby, said that a sports event organised by Chickpet MLA R V Devaraj at the park helped in saving the playground. “The MLA was instrumental in removing the vehicles and putting up stone slabs as barricades between the junkyard and the school playground a few months ago, demarcating the border of the junkyard,” he recalled.

‘Abused and bullied’

S Ashok Kumar, a physical instructor at the school, said the school management made representations to the authorities concerned several times in the last 15 years but to no avail. “We were instead threatened and abused every time,” he claimed.

When contacted, BBMP Commissioner G Kumar Naik said he was unaware that slums had come up at Bannappa Park as he assumed office not long ago. “Now that you have brought this matter to my notice, I will make sure that the park land is reclaimed,” he said.
DH News Service