Credit: Special Arrangement
The Bengaluru South City Corporation’s decision to change park timings has attracted outrage among residents. A letter campaign has now been initiated against the move.
In 2024, the then Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had ordered that all parks should be open between 5 am and 10 pm.
But the South City Corporation recently stated that parks in its jurisdiction would be open only from 5 am to 11 am and 4 pm to 8 pm.
Citizens feel the truncated timings make parks inaccessible.
An X user, @blueringtail, urged citizens to write to Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) Chief Commissioner M Maheshwar Rao and the South City Corporation commissioner to review the decision.
Detailing the various categories of people who would be impacted by the decision, he expressed concerns that other corporations would follow suit if it was not opposed now.
From college students to software employees to househelps and cab drivers, different people visit parks at different times, and they should be open for longer hours, citizens opined.
“The examples above are real examples of real tax-paying citizens who face the brunt of not having open access to their open spaces every day. With the new park timings, the parks in South Bengaluru are open for a mere 6 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the evening. These are timings suited to just one section of society,” a post on X said.
South City Corporation Commissioner K N Ramesh said he was ready to review the decision if there is public demand for it.
“We decided to change the timings only after the public requested it. A number of RWAs, local representatives and citizens approached us requesting a change. Public interest is always our priority. If there is public demand that the parks have to remain open longer, we will consider that as well,” he said.
He noted that most parks had few visitors during the afternoon hours and the decision was taken to curb illegal activities.
“We also need to take up maintenance works. We have also seen the statistics: hardly anyone visits the parks in the afternoon hours,” he added.