Putting green into Garden City

Putting green into Garden City
Scheme Includes Theme Parks, Cool Groves, Mini Forests
The Times of India

Bangalore: There’s an eco-utopia creating a storm, gently, in your friendly neighbourhood. And the storm reads something like — 80,974 trees, 11 mini forests and 22 floral theme parks.

The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) in tandem with the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has unveiled an ambitious scheme called Greener Bangalore to develop open areas as green lungs. The slew of measures are apparently driven by one agenda — putting the ‘garden’ back in the sobriquet Garden City.

To start with, citizens have been roped in to understand that parks that are being developed are meant to be preserved for posterity. Accordingly the BMP has given out neighbourhood parks for adoption. A month ago, three parks were handed out to three different resident welfare associations under the ‘adopt a park’ scheme, and the initiative was lauded even by chief minister H D Kumaraswamy as a telling example of public-private partnership. This, even when the BMP and private players in the corporate and builders sector were ruing the lack of co-ordination and drive amongst themselves.

Explains Krishna Udupudi, chief forest officer, BMP, “Residents have to look after the piece of land allocated to them and keep it in a healthy condition. We have identified 75 such parks which can be adopted by citizen groups. The incentive for them is that a placard with their names and logo will be put up announcing that the park is being maintained by them.’’

After parks, it is groves. Fancy stepping into an icy cool grove on a hot summer afternoon? The 11,281 pongamia saplings compartmentalised into pongamia groves should do it. Botanists who helped with the recently inaugurated bio-diversity J P Park explain that pongamia is a plant with coolant properties, creating a naturally air-conditioned atmosphere. Why on a humid summer night, stepping into a pongamia grove apparently entails woollens!

When horticulture department officials talk of increasing the green coverage, they are referring to mini forests being developed across east, south and west zones. Mini forests or a conglomeration of tree parks, lawns and boulevards are under way at RMV II and III stage, BTM I stage, Kalyananagar, Chikkabanaswadi main road, J P Nagar Ring Road, Jayanagar 7th block.

There’s more — rose gardens anybody, lotus parks maybe, how about hibiscus theme parks, to say nothing of succulents and cacti, crotons and bougainvillea. Twenty-two theme parks across different locations, are slated to take over by early 2007. Udupudi explains that thousands of varieties of plant species have been brought in, even soil suitable for a particular species has been imported to Bangalore.

TAKE YOUR PICK
Theme Park and Location
Rose Garden: Pipeline Park, M C Layout, Kempegowda Tower Park Lotus Park: Tavarekere Udyanavana, J P Park Hibiscus Park — J P Nagar (south), Jeevan Bimanagar LIC park Crotons: Bashyam Park nursery, South end circle, Jayanagar Succulents and Cacti: National College nursery, Jayanagar, K G Tower Park Herbal Garden: Near Ayurvedic Hospital, N Ramu Triangular Park, Eco Park Koramangala Bougainvillea: Geleyara Balaga Pipe line Park, Coles Park, Vidyagiri layout