Residents’ assns usurp public parks, deny entry to ‘outsiders’

Coimbatore: Occupants of Asvini Aster Green Nest Apartment at Sowripalayam alleged that their children were not allowed to use the park developed on a piece of open space reserve land belonging to the city corporation at Chinna Ayavu Layout.The apartment dewellers said they received text messages from members of the Ayavu Layout residents’ association asking them to restrict their activities within their compound and not use the park, which is just 50m from the apartment building. They were also asked not to plant trees on OSR land located next to the park. K Subbaiah, the secretary of the apartment, said the key to the park is with residents of Ayavu Layout. “They also appointed a security guard to the park, which is the only place in the locality for our children to spend leisure time.”N Veerapandian, a resident of the apartment, said Ayavu layout residents use the OSR land to park their vehicles, but do not allow anyone to plant trees.Similarly, not far from Sowripalayam, members of the New Damu Nagar residents’ association at Puliakulam installed a board in front of a park on OSR land stating that entry into the park is only for the members. V Prakash, a resident of a nearby area, said, “If parks are usurped by residents’ associations, where would people who are not members of the association go? We cannot take our children to parks maintained by the corporation in faraway places every day.”S P Thiagarajan, an activist fighting to reclaim encroached OSR lands, said the New Damu Nagar park was developed on OSR land by a private person but he had kept it to himself. “Residents of New Damu Nagar gained entry into it only after a struggle. But now they are restricting access to people from neighboring areas.”“The city corporation is the sole owner of OSR lands. Just because someone created some facilities on such land do not mean that they have exclusive access to them. It should be open for everyone,” he added.When contacted, corporation town planning officer P Kumar said no one can deny entry to parks developed on OSR lands as they belong to the corporation. “The civic body is ready to issue a letter to the aggrieved people if the access to such facility is denied to them.”