Deccan Herald              19.12.2013

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.

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.