Garden city’s parks in pathetic state

NT Correspondent

In sharp contrast to its ‘garden city’tag, the parks and gardensinthe city are slipping into a state of neglect. Lack of gardening staff, poor equipment and paucityoffundsfor actual parkmaintenance, despite budgetary allocationsbythe government, are some of the ills that are gradually choking the life out of dozens of parks inthe city.

According to the data available withthe Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) restructuring committee, there are 1,348 parks in the city, out of which 1,118 parks have been developed. Around 230 parks a re yet tosee any d evelopment. According to BBMP sources, many park maintenance contractors have been bleeding Palike’s funds without actually doingany work.

“During several surprise inspections of parks, we have found them to be unhygienic, poorly maintained and equippedwith unsafeplay sets. Many parks do not have maintenance s taff oreven a single guard. Yet, we have contractors claiming expenses on theseparks for periods up tosix months or more,” a BBMP official said.

Almost all parks in residential areas come underthe jurisdiction o f the BBMPand are maintained by the civic body. But some are given up for adoption to corporate entities and a few others are maintained by residents’ welfare associations. The highest number of developed parks are in the South Zone(255), followed bythe EastZone (254) and WestZone (208).

Bommanahalli has 120 parks while RR Nagar has a total of 113 parks. In Yelahanka, 102 parks were developed, while Mahadevpura has 37 developed parks alongside 29 developed public parks in Dasarahalli.

South Bengaluru’s Jayanagar is legendary for its parks and prestigious locality. Though Rs 6.5 crore was sanctioned to develop a nd keep 37 parks in its neighbourhood, only s ix parks have been maintained so far byutilizing Rs 5.5 c rore, according to LekkaBeku, a campaign started by Bengaluru Navanirmana Party (BNP). The other parkscontinue to remain in a pathetic condition with damaged amenities.

“In all, 37projects related toimproving parks and their surroundings, worthRs6.55 crore, were allocated for w ard 170. Of them, six projects were executed with a budget of Rs5.57 crore in the last five years. Though the parksare in adecent condition, thebudget spent does n otadd up to what is seen at these parks,” a BNP member said.

Several residents also complain that the runners do not have access to parks after 10am or are restricted from running during regular hours. However, BBMP horticulture department officials pointed out that it is next to impossible to keep the parks open all day. “The ones that were kept open all day invited complaints from residents of being misused by alcoholics and gamblers,” he said. The official also added there has been an acute shortageoffunds for the developmentof parksin the city