JOIN USThe Senior Citizens Park at BEML Layout that was functioning well a couple of years back has now turned into a garbage dumping yard.
Similarly, Kadugodi park is a haven for anti-social elements and Horamavu park which previously had children’s play equipment is now a barren plot.
These were a few revelations of a survey of parks and playgrounds conducted by two women- Rose Mary and Manju George- that was done to understand the condition of public spaces in the Mahadevapura zone.
The women surveyed parks in a couple of wards in the Mahadevapura zone with the help of community interactions, RTI documents, ward maps, Google Earth and Maps and Open street map among others.
The findings revealed that most of the playgrounds and parks were in bad shape, they said. They did the survey as a continuation of ‘Public Space Mapping’ project carried out by Evangelical Social Action Forum (ESAF), an organisation that conducts ‘Livable Cities Program’, in the City.
Parks encroached
“The communities staying near the public spaces of the wards, coming under Mahadevapura, expressed their unhappiness regarding the parks being left barren, unmaintained for a long time. Some of the parks have even been encroached and are missing. For instance, through RTI, we found that the public park at Hagaduru ward has been encroached by a commercial apartment,” said Rose Mary and Manju George.
Mooganna Gowda, a resident of Vinayaka Layout said, “Two months back, there was a chain snatching incident at Inner Circle Park in our locality. Also, the maintenance of the park is not up to the mark. Women, especially, are scared to visit the park as illegal activities are also taking place.”
‘Corporators responsible’
BBMP Horticulture Standing Committee Chairman M Muniraju holds Ward Corporators responsible for the persisting condition. He said, “It is the Corporators’ duty to ensure security and maintenance in parks. They need to set aside a part of the ward funds for the development of parks too.”
MLA of Mahadevapura constituency, Arvind Limbavalli when contacted , told Deccan Herald, “The Palike should consider the idea of handing over the park maintenance to Residents’ Welfare Associations (RWAs). I will speak with Palike Commissioner M Laxminarayana about the state of playgrounds as well parks in my constituency.”
Meanwhile, Manju George also said that the BBMP’s list of parks and details on its website need to be updated. “For instance, the Palike has listed that there are a total of four parks at Hagaduru ward but during the survey we could find only two of the parks. The information furnished on website has been last updated in the year 2010,” she added.