The Times of India 12.01.2012
BBMP gets park land for parking
The BBMP shelved the project only to revive it in another form: widen the road, gobble up the park area and use it not to decongest traffic but park vehicles. That the premier lung space, where a National War Memorial is now coming up, is being nibbled away is not the civic agency's concern.
Work on widening Chowdaiah Road is under way at a brisk pace on the half-a-kilometre stretch abutting the park. The park's compound wall has been pulled down and another wall is being built 5.5 metres deeper inside.
S Somashekar, chief
engineer, BBMP (major roads), confirmed that the widened portion of the
road will be used only for parking space. "The front portion of the park
had been earmarked for road widening to decongest traffic, but now the
requirement is to provide parking for four-wheelers. A new single lane
will be built in the widened portion and about 50 cars can be parked on
this half-a-km stretch. This lane will not be used for vehicular
movement, only for parking," he explained. However, the Palike is not
clear who will be entitled to use the parking lot - visitors to the
proposed war memorial in the park or high court judges or visitors to
Raj Bhavan. The earlier underground parking lot had been proposed to
accommodate Raj Bhavan visitors.
WHAT THE LAW SAYS
The
Karnataka Government Parks Preservation Act 1975 says parks cannot be
used for infrastructure works. When contacted, horticulture deputy
director M Jagadish refused to comment on the issue.
The Indira
Gandhi Musical Fountain Park is maintained and owned by the
horticulture department. He said the issue of widening Chowdaiah Road
was between the BBMP and the public works department which originally
owned the park land. "The PWD has given away the land to BBMP," Jagadish
claimed.
