Metro to shrink Rose Garden by 4.25 acres

Metro to shrink Rose Garden by 4.25 acres

The Hindu

It will take away 1,135 sq.m. of land of the 240-acre Lalbagh Botanical Garden

# No more park area will be acquired, says BMRC chief
# Loss of lung spaces a major concern for people




BANGALORE: If Metro Rail will decongest Bangalore's roads, it will also reduce some of the vital lung spaces of the garden city as two of its stations and one of its terminals will come up in parks.

The 240-acre Lalbagh Botanical Garden will lose a slice of its greenery along R.V. Road for a Metro station and theRose Garden (R.V. Road boulevard from South End Circle to Marenahalli Main Road) stands to lose a sizeable area for a station and a terminal.

Lalbagh will lose 1,135 sq.m. (less than a quarter acre) and the Rose Garden will shrink by a little less than 4.25 acres of land.

This area will be taken up by the Jayanagar station that needs 672 sq.m. of the boulevard park and the R.V. Road terminal that needs 16,500 sq.m.

Shrinking

Nature lovers will be loathe to see the green cover of their city shrinking. A key official of the Horticulture Department said that the Lalbagh stretch would only be a part of its eucalyptus grove and that no rare species would be lost. Although the department has tried to protect the full area of the park by citing the Parks and Preservation Act, which does not allow non-horticultural activity within its premises, the law will be amended to provide for transfer of the land.

Rose Garden, which has a spread of 33 acres of land, will lose an eighth of its area.

The park may have to lose a few Mahogany trees, in addition to shrubs and fast-growing and flowering varieties of trees such as Gulmohar. Despite the looming land acquisition, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike is developing the park.

"Let people enjoy greenery for two more years," said Basavaraj Kesari, Horticulture Superintendent (South).

Nevertheless, the loss of parks and other lung spaces is a major concern of the people.

They fear that the presence of stations will attract real estate dealers to develop the area for commercial gains, thereby further affecting the environmental balance of the fast-growing city.

Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. Managing Director V. Madhu said that stations would have greenery in, under and around them, and added that no more park area would be acquired. BMRC has planted 15,000 trees in and around Bangalore in lieu of 1,500 trees that will be removed or pruned.

Mixed response

There are mixed responses to the metro eating into park space.

"It is better to have a thousand people travel by train than having 1,000 vehicles on the road," said N. Girish, a software professional who lives close to South End Circle. He does not favour the idea of taking the Metro underground for he says that the project cost will go up ten times.

Shailaja K., a housemaker, who lives in an apartment close to the proposed R.V. Road terminal, said that though she was emotionally attached to the park, she did not mind a part of it being sacrificed for the Metro. "This city must get a Metro as fast as possible," she said.

Vasanth Kanakambara, a student and resident of Jayanagar, wants the park to be retained as it is. "Let the station go underground," he said.

For the Metro commuter, however, the controversy will be forgotten as he or she soaks in the panoramic view of Lalbagh's beauty through the window of the train.