Several new parks for the city

The city's municipal body, Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, under its Janodyanavana scheme, has developed and renovated more than 100 public parks and gardens in the last year in a belated attempt to justify Bangalore's tag of Garden City. While the move is certainly welcome, the flip side of the story is that several of the newer parks are little more than showcases of landscaping with extensive lawns with mexican grass, concrete jogging tracks, colourful shrubs, pebble and rock gardens and artificial water streams. Where are the saplings and trees? Krishna has also spoken of establishing a Park Authority for the city whose sole responsibility will be overseeing the development and maintenance of the city's major parks and gardens like Lalbagh, Cubbon Park and the forthcoming Freedom Park.