Parks closing their gates on the poor?

Parks closing their gates on the poor?

T.S. Ranganna

These people now find themselves barred from their one-time refuge

# Newly imposed timings for entry keep the poor outside
# Pets are also not allowed inside these corporation parks



RESTRICTED AREA: A view of the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike park behind the Shivananda Circle Bus Stop in Bangalore. — Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.

BANGALORE: The poor in Bangalore are becoming aliens in their own city thanks to the sudden affluence in many localities.

They may be unemployed or migrant labourers, who do not have a place of their own and have to make do with whatever refuge they can find.

There are those who wait for shop owners to down their shutters at night so that they rest their tired bodies in the small space in front of these establishments.

Resting place

The sight of people taking a nap or simply stretching themselves out on the cement benches under the shade of a tree in the corporation parks dotting the various wards used to be quite common. For them, public parks used to be some of the only places where they could relax during the day. These parks are usually well maintained.

Now, however, some of these parks belonging to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) no longer welcome these "children of a lesser god". An example is the one at Kumara Park East, Ward No. 77 (Code No.15), behind the Shivananda Circle Bus Stop.

Locked

It is a neat little park, but the gate is locked. A small board in English declares that it is open twice a day, between 5.30 a.m. and 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., possibly to enable the more fortunate to take their morning and evening walks. But pets are not allowed in these parks.

A large number of poor people, including low-paid workers and villagers, who bring petitions to be given to a couple of Ministers living in bungalows near the park, used to wait in it. Unable to afford to eat in hotels, they would bring their food from home and eat it in a green corner of the park. Not any more.

`Injustice'

Today, they sit on the edge of the park compound or on the footpath. Hanumanth Vathara, a migrant worker from Gulbarga, seethes over the seeming social injustice. He says, "The palike collects tax on parks, libraries, and even to feed beggars. But here the taxpayers are barred." The others around him nod in approval.