How Freedom Park was spruced up

Freedom Park, the sprawling former central jail, made for an apt venue for the recently concluded Bangalore Literature Festival. The Festival was held at the Park, on Seshadri Road, for the first time in its 14-year history.

Over 20 acres of land was transformed with help from the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), says V Ravichandar who drove the project. He hopes the success of the festival will pave the way for the space to become a cultural hub.

“For the past one-and-a-half years, I have been urging the government to spruce up the place so that the city can make better use of it. Serious work on it began in April this year,” reveals Ravichandar, who is a part of the organising team of the literature festival and the BLR Hubba.

First built in 1867, it served as the State Central Jail until 2003. In 2003, the jail was relocated to its current location in Parappana Agrahara. 

Ravichandar was a part of the Bangalore Agenda Task Force (BATF) which was led by Nandan Nilekani and included others like Kalpana Kar and Naresh Narasimhan. BATF, which functioned from 1999 to 2004, aimed to turn the old jail into an events space. The renovation was taken up by Mathew and Ghosh Architects. The park, as it stands now, is a result of the work these architects put in back in 2003, Ravichandar tells Metrolife. But when BATF closed down, the park lost a custodian. “BATF had ideas for how the park could be best put to use, but without anyone to take custody of it, it was languishing for over a decade,” he shares.

About 10 years ago, they carried out some basic work to make it usable for events. Since then, a few events have been held, but they were mostly by the government. The ground outside the park has been used for protests. But the park itself was largely unused. 

The large campus, which has a ‘panopticon’ design, comprises a watchtower, barracks, cells, a hospital block and gallows. The circular design allowed prison officers to keep track of the entire complex from the watchtower.

For the literature festival, the barracks, amphitheatre and the lawns adjacent to the watchtower were converted into stages. The hospital block was turned into a lounge for authors and speakers at the festival. Soft lighting, framed artwork and carefully chosen furniture made it almost impossible to imagine it as a hospital for prisoners. “All the buildings were in poor condition. Some of the buildings were being used as urinals, others were covered in pigeon droppings and were completely occupied by the birds,” Ravichandar recalls. 

The biggest undertaking was constructing toilets. “We dug up the grounds to lay sewage lines. Around half a kilometre of sewage lines has been laid,” Ravichandar says. They also laid walkways and evened out the land to make it more accessible for wheelchair users, buggies and senior citizens. “Earlier it was just undulating land, making access challenging,” he shares.

Ravichandar believes there is still a lot of scope for improvement. “We should work towards making it more disability friendly and adding a bit more greenery,” he says, adding that the park is in dire need of a custodian to prevent it from falling back into disrepair. 

Rs 5 cr for revamp

The government has spent about Rs 5 crore to complete a basic revamp of the park, says Rajendra Cholan P, Bengaluru Central City Corporation Commissioner. “About 95 per cent of the work has been completed. The park holds great historic significance. So we have taken this up in a big way and plan to set up a playing area for kids, among other things. We will hire a consultant to give us a detailed master plan to see how we can make the best use of it,” he adds.