City's first heritage park might remain just an idea

But on that day, neither Sadananda Gowda turned up, nor did the organisation - Indian National Trust for Art and Heritage (INTACH) - which proposed the concept to the Endowments department of the Government, knew the next course of action.

The Bengaluru Parampareya Udyaana or the Bangalore Heritage Park, which plans to depict the history of the City and its art, culture, rulers, religions, food and beyond, is proposed in an area surrounded by a Ganapati temple, the Bugle Rock and the Bull temple, in Basavanagudi. The Park will be an open-air garden-museum. Beyond these details, INTACH has nothing more to offer and the Endowments department too is unforthcoming.

When questioned on why the programme got cancelled, Basavanagudi Corporator Katte Sathyanarayana said, “The Chief Minister is a busy man. He had some other work on that day. We will conduct the foundation-stone laying ceremony by September-end.”

An officer from the Chief Minister’s office told Deccan Herald that a request had come to the office seeking deferring the foundation stone-laying ceremony. The officer did not mention which department sent the request, but he said there was no specific reason mentioned for the postponement.

Master plan

When Deccan Herald tried to seek the master plan of the Park from the INTACH, the Trust was not willing to provide.

INTACH Convenor Sathya Prakash said, “The project at present is like a half-done painting. So we do not wish to promise something, lest it gets scrapped.”

When Muzrai Commissioner Nanda Kumar was contacted, he said, “The project is still under discussion. We will make it official in the next two weeks.” Then why did the department publicly announce the date of the stone-laying ceremony?

“Politics and Government work like that. They announce, and later on they plan. The Heritage Theme Park is clearly not on their priority list,” a member from INTACH said.

If the Theme Park materialises, it will definitely cater to an educative and entertaining space that the City has not witnessed. With participation of architects from INTACH, historians and consultants, who will form a part of the committee which will be constituted, will do its best to leave apart any commercial intervention.

Says Sathya, “We need to be reminded of our history and treasure it for the future generations. That is what we want.”