JOIN USPromised park eludes Benson Town residents
The residents of Binny Crescent Road in Benson Town have been waiting for a promised park since the 1970s.
A three-acre plot adjoining the layout used to be a quarry before it was filled up and a link road was laid there. The promise made then has still not been fulfilled and the area has now become a dumping yard and a breeding ground for mosquitoes and den of illegal activities.
“It would have been nice to have a park here. Instead, there is a dumping ground where people are always burning plastic. I have severe breathing problems because of this,” said Shyamala Ganesh, a senior resident who has been living here since 1988.
“We are having a huge mosquito menace,” said Sadiqa Peerbhoy, who has also been living in Binny Town for several decades. Last year, five people in her house were affected by Chikungunya. “Imagine, so many people being affected at once. We could not move around.”
Fed up with the inaction of the authorities, the residents took it upon themselves to clean the area twice in 2014 and once in 2015. Sanjeev Shanmugam, who took up the cleaning activity twice, said, “The clean-up helped only temporarily. The garbage pile is always there, attracting stray dogs, rodents and snakes.”
Shanmugam had been admitted to hospital with respiratory problems and his 12-year-old son is suffering from asthma because of the toxic fumes from burning plastic.
Shyamala said several youngsters take cover behind the overgrown shrubs and consume liquor and drugs. Recently, there was a failed attempt to snatch a house-help’s gold chain.
As president of the Binny Crescent’ Residents Association, she been making rounds to the BBMP offices and writing to different authorities, trying to get her voice heard. She even sent an e-mail to the prime minister’s office in October last year, which was forwarded to the principal secretary of the department of personnel and administrative reforms. She has met several authorities at different levels, but in vain.
“There is confusion about who the property belongs to. Some officials told us that it is owned by BBMP, but others told us that it is disputed and belongs to a private party,” Shyamala said.