BBMP banks on loopholes to build canteens

 Facing flak for using public spaces for the soon-to-open Indira Canteens, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has dusted out a November 2015 notification.

According to the notification, the city has 283 designated open spaces that are neither parks nor playgrounds.

The Kanakanapalya playground in Jayanagar 2nd block, for instance, where Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is slated to launch the first Indira Canteen, is not a playground, according to the notification. It is an ‘open space meant for public use’.

The notification was issued by the Urban Development Department under the Karnataka Parks, Playfields and Open Spaces (Preservation and Regulation) Act, 1985.

It clearly lists out parks, playgrounds and open spaces in the city’s municipal limits.
The notification comes in handy, especially after the High Court directed the BBMP not to construct canteens on parks and playgrounds.

“All the places where we have built the canteens are not parks or playgrounds. They are open spaces meant for public utility services,” BBMP Special Commissioner Manoj Rajan said.

Construction of Indira Canteens, one of Siddaramaiah’s most populist schemes after Anna Bhagya, is facing public ire because the subsidised canteens are coming up on public spaces.

Armed with the November 2015 notification, however, officials hope to quell further protests. “No one can challenge this notification, because it was issued after the draft was published in January 2013 seeking objections,” BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said. 

According to the notification, Bengaluru has 1,144 parks and 247 playgrounds. The South zone has the highest number of parks and playgrounds at 340 and 97 respectively.

The Mahadevapura zone, which houses the city’s I-T corridor, does not have a single playground. The Rajarajeshwari Nagar zone has 84 open spaces, the highest.

“We could have used these 283 open spaces to set up 198 Indira Canteens. But each canteen needs to be located in a place that has a floating population. That’s the sole criterion for choosing locations,” Prasad explained. 

Citizen forum unaware

Authorities have stopped construction of the canteens in at least 20 locations after protests, sources said. As many as 135 sites have been handed over to the Tamil Nadu-based KEF Infra that is manufacturing the canteen structures. Of this, construction is under way at 103 sites and 71 are ready, but their exact location has not been made public.

Citizen Action Forum joint secretary N Mukund was unaware of the November 2015 notification. “Why has it not been made public,” he asked.