A ‘well-planned’ colony with no parks

A ‘well-planned’ colony with no parks
Deccan Herald

A CA site used as a park is now being allotted to charitable organisations by the BDA.

Here is an example of how well residential localities are planned in Bangalore! Look at Jeevan Bhima Nagar LIC Colony in HAL III Stage. There are nearly 2,000 residents, 530 houses and 20 civic amenity sites. But, there is not a single park in which children can play or elders can take a walk.

The Colony, spread across nearly 40 acres, has just one saving grace- a two-acre land situated centrally that can be classified as a park or a lung space.

This problem was brought to Deccan Herald’s notice through an SOS e-mail sent by a XII standard student Ram D. When this correspondent visited the locality, the residents shared their fears about losing this space too.

According to Mr S S Ranganathan, President of Residents’ Forum, the only available two-acre land belong to BDA (plot 2, CA site, HAL III stage) that was being used as a park and for leisure activities for more than a decade is now being allotted to charitable organisations and community trusts by the BDA.

Appeals to BDA and LIC officials to ear-mark the CA site as a park have not worked, he said.

Interestingly, the BDA seems to have thwarted its own rule. According to BDA norms, in a housing locality 50 per cent of the land space should be utilised for residential, 25 per cent for roads and drains, 15 per cent for parks and 10 per cent for civic amenities. But in this case, it remains only on paper.

Forget 15 per cent even if you take the entire colony there is not more than a couple of open spaces that can be called as a park.

Amitabha Samanth, a resident, said the allotting of the CA site to charitable trusts would spell doom to his young son who spends most of his evenings cycling in the area.

“The houses are built close to one another and this is the only safe space in our vicinity. And when you look at the 20 other CA sites, apart from the police station, the rest have nothing much to do with the residents” he said.

Even the children expressed their ire at their playground being converted into a concrete jungle. Archana 10, who has participated in various protests to retain the area as a playground, explained “This is the place where we hold various sport activities and games like sack race and running competitions.”

Relocation

When contacted, BDA Commissioner M N Vidyashankar said that though he may not be able to help the residents legally, he will try to convince some of the allottees in other CA sites to relocate to alternative places so that a park can be created.

On the lack of green spaces or parks, he said the colony was one of the oldest localities in Bangalore which was tailored by the yester-civic agency City Implementation Trust Board and BDA was not in existence then.

LIC Colony profile

Area: 40 acres
Number of Residents: 2000
Number of houses: 530
CA sites: 20
Parks: None