Bengaluru is one of the fastest growing cities in Asia and its citizens are trying hard to keep pace. And it shows. Bengalureans, who are on their toes most of the waking hours, suffer from stress and lifestyle-related health problems. Increasing pollution and reducing green cover across in Bengaluru, which was once touted as the Garden City, is not helping either. All the localities in the city have parks, which provide much needed lung spaces for the citizens. But unfortunately, most of these parks are out of bounds for the citizens, from whom these green spaces have been built in the first place. The parks are open for only certain hours and are kept under lock and key rest of the time.
In a city where most office-goers return home only around 7 pm, the parks are closed by 6 pm. Many resident welfare associations have raised the issue with the BBMP, which administers majority of the parks, but there has been no solution yet. “The IT capital of India, Benglauru, has over 10 lakh IT professionals working 24X7. Many would like to visit parks for fitness according to their convenience. Not everybody wants to visit fitness centres. Scores of people still love to spend time amid greenery which makes them fresh,” said C. Gopinath, a member of the M. N. Krishnarao Park Senior Citizens Walkers’ Association.
The rising pollution has made people throng parks for fresh air and greenery. Most of the professionals would like to visit parks to de-stress themselves, he said. The BBMP, which has a jurisdiction over 821 sqkm, has 1,050 parks. Of them, 870 have been developed, some beautifully others moderately. The remaining 180 parks will be developed soon.
The people have been demanding for long that the parks should be kept open from 5 am till 9 pm. But the BBMP has been raising objection for two reasons. Parks could be used by youngsters in love, who indulge in public display of affection, embarrassing others, and the authorities need time to take care of maintenance work, like watering the plants and trees, deweeding and spraying of pesticides.
But the citizens say that maintenance work can be done even when people are in the park, and as to the “immoral activities”, the caretakers of the park can send the trouble makers away.