Park to come up at Koramangala 'beauty spot'

The 2.7 acres of prime land located near Jyoti Nivas College Road in Koramangala will be developed into a park. The area that has many rocky structures is nothing but a dumping yard for construction debris and garbage used as public urinals by labourers and passersby.

Although, the property belonged to Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), in June 1996, nearly 79,000-odd square feet of the land was handed over to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and was named ‘beauty spot.’ Subsequently, dispute cropped up between the adjoining St John's Medical College and Hospital and BDA about the remaining portion of the land measuring up to 30,900-odd sq feet.

A BBMP official said the hospital claimed that the property belonged to it and a suit was filed before the City Civil Court. However, the court gave its verdict favouring BDA recently. Later, on December 6, 2013, BDA handed over the entire 2.7 acres of land to BBMP and after which Palike began fencing and clearing the debris on the property, he added.

The disputed property had many claimants and recently, a portion of it was encroached upon by a private party who was on the verge of setting up a car showroom.

A member of the Koramangala Infrastructure Task Force had written a letter to the BBMP about the government land being encroached upon and sought action from the Palike. The member also said that there were many private parties who claimed portions of the property and many petitions had been filed before the High Court in the past.

Local residents expressed their happiness at the BBMP decision to create a Park.

“The property was used as a dumping yard all these days. People, including autorickshaw drivers and construction labourers working in the vicinity, used the place as urinals. In fact, many labourers had even made makeshift tents and were living there till their construction work concluded. Besides developing the area into a park, Palike officials should also explore constructing toilets and providing drinking water facilities,” said Leela N, a local resident.