CM takes away golf land for parking

BANGALORE: Successive chief ministers have shown scant regard for the city’s meagre green, open spaces. So get ready to bid goodbye to 500 metres of greenery at the Bangalore Golf Course, courtesy parking for visitors to chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda’s Krishna residence. The Rs 2.9-crore project has been quickly cleared by BBMP to provide parking for 60 cars.
Earlier, it was the Bangalore Turf Club, which on BS Yeddyurappa becoming chief minister, found itself without its parking lot as it was taken over for providing Yeddyurappa’s visitors with parking on Race Course Road.
Open spaces in the central business district have been under assault: earlier, there was a proposal to build underground parking at Indira Gandhi Musical fountain on Chowdaiah Road. This was shelved following public outcry, but Bangalore Golf Course doesn’t seem to have similar luck. BBMP is building surface parking facility all along Kumara Krupa Road. It has already erected pillars inside the Golf Club to demarcate the boundary.
A senior BBMP officer told TOI that the work was taken up as it was one of the roads to be widened along with Bellary Road. However, when contacted, Munirathna Naidu, contractorturned-Yeshwantpur corporator, said the proposal to widen the Kumara Krupa Road wasn’t part of Bellary Road widening. “Widening was only on a stretch of 2.5 km from Mekhri Circle (present HMT factory) to Hebbal flyover.
It wasn’t in front of the CM’s office. Kumara Krupa Road was notified for asphaltation only,” he told TOI. Munirathna was the contractor who was in charge of Bellary Road widening (2007-08 ) before he became the corporator.
According to S Somashekar, BBMP’s chief engineer, major roads, the work has been taken up based only on the letter written by the CM’s office recently. “It is a Rs 2.9-cr project where the entire stretch of Kumara Krupa Road from Windsor Manor junction to the end of the Golf Course will be widened on one side, for parking. The project includes construction of separate drain, footpath, chainlink fencing,” he said.
The two-lane road will remain the same, but width will be increased to additional 3 metres along the stretch of 500 metres of the length of the road. BBMP will also construct interlinking blocks across the stretch between the vehicular parking space. It can be used by public, and not just by CM’s visitors, Palike officials said.
According to BBMP, land acquisition is not an issue as the Golf Club land belongs to PWD, and the land has already been taken for widening . When contacted, GB Subramaniam, captain , Golf Club, said: “I am unaware of the issue . You can contact secretary Arjun Srivatsa.” However, Srivatsa was unavailable for comment.
In the macro-scheme of things, there are very few open green spaces left — Cubbon Park, Golf Course, Palace Grounds and Bangalore Turf Club — in the city centre. Slowly but surely these spaces are shrinking.
TIMES VIEW
Large , green land tracts in the heart of the city are shrinking steadily and surreptitiously. Both Bangalore Turf Club and Bangalore Golf Club lost precious acreage recently to road widening. While that may be justified as public good, how does one justify land being annexed to provide visitors’ parking for chief ministers’ residences? The argument that the lands leased belong to the government is juvenile. The club authorities stay quiet for fear of further retribution. A vicious cycle, if not stopped, will result in almost all green and wide open spaces vanishing from the city centre, eventually.
QUESTIONS UNANSWERED
Kumara Krupa Road is perpendicular to Bellary Road. BBMP is not defending road widening based on passenger car unit per hour on that stretch, but only says road widening is part of Bellary Road widening.
If BBMP wants to widen the road for traffic congestion for 3 metres, it should be 1.5 metres from the median of the road. Will BBMP acquire front portions of the building from CM’s office, Hotel Ashoka, Chitra Kala Parishat which are situated opposite the Golf Course?
Why can’t BBMP, Bangalore traffic police regulate traffic on Kumara Krupa Road instead of widening?
’Public consultation before road widening will be done by BBMP’ was the promise made by BBMP commissioner Siddaiah during previous controversies of road widening. Why was no such consultation held for widening Kumara Krupa Road? Why can’t parking be allowed in Kumara Krupa guesthouse for CM’s visitors?
Why can’t CM move to Race Course Road where BSY used to stay? This will cancel the need for parking space on the Golf Course.