Row over BDA bid to lease park

Row over BDA bid to lease park
DH News Service, Bangalore:
The playground-cum-park in Vidyaranyapura is on the verge of being converted into a concrete structure.


Like many open spaces in City, this playground-cum-park in Vidyaranyapura too is on the verge of being converted into a concrete structure.

The 3.25-acre Suvarna Mahotsava Kreedangana is the lung space for over a lakh residents in Vidyaranyapura.

But the Bangalore Development Authority’s (BDA) has decided to lease out around 40x30 metres of the the property to Muttukottai Education Society, which is planning to construct a school building on it.

The Residents’ Welfare Associations in Vidyaranyapura had even approached former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, former deputy chief minister B S Yediyurappa and BDA Commissioner M K Shankarlinge Gowda to reconsider the BDA’s decision to lease the land for a period of 30 years to the educational institution but nothing has been done.

Unfair

“Handing over about 40X30 metres of land, which is about 20 per cent of the total area, to a private party for construction of school building is unfair,” said Subramani, Secretary, NTI Residents Welfare Association.

The Suvarna Mahotsava Kreedangana, inaugurated in 1997 as part of the country’s 50th year of Independence, has sporting infrastructure in the form of cricket pitches, basket ball courts and play grounds besides facilities for organising cultural programmes.

20 per cent land loss

“Around 1.2 lakh residents of Vidyaranyapura and its surrounding layout, including 12 villages, use the playground on a daily basis. By constructing the school, around 20 per cent of land will be lost and in future, the civic agencies may allot the remaining property for similar activities,” said Chandrashekar, a resident of the locality.

The Residents Welfare Association is now planning to file a PIL against the move.