Leave ground for recreation

Leave ground for recreation
By R Krishnakumar,DH News Service,Bangalore:
Use of a playground in HSR Layout Sector 2 is becoming a contentious issue, with residents fighting a State proposal to create a residential colony for judges of the State High Court, on the land.

In a residential layout strapped for lung space, vacant land comes coveted. Use of a playground in HSR Layout Sector 2 is becoming a contentious issue, with residents fighting a State proposal to create a residential colony for judges of the State High Court, on the land.
The ground (site no 64, Haralakunte Village), opposite to the Cambridge International School, is used by people across age groups. The layout’s residents — who have been pushing for creation of a sports complex on the ground with the Bangalore Development Authority — were caught by surprise by the recent bhumi puja for the judges’ complex, days before the fall of the former coalition government. Ironically a BDA board, that marks the space as a playground, stays.
“We have been urging the BDA to develop this land into a mini forest and a sports complex for two years. In the BDA’s Masterplan 2015, the land is earmarked for a sports complex and playground,” points out Brig (retd) R S Murthy, President, Residents’ Welfare Association, HSR Layout Sector 2.
The former State Government had in August this year cleared the proposal to construct the judges’ residential quarters in the layout. The residents say their concerns, despite repeated representation to senior officials including the Chief Secretary, have been cold-shouldered.
Complex issue
HSR Layout, that has an active resident participation in developmental initiatives, is already weighed down by the infrastructure pitfalls that have surfaced along with the realty boom. Representatives of residents’ associations across the seven sectors in the layout have joined the issue over the playground and maintain that the layout can’t afford to house another residential complex at the expense of a live open space.
The ground is being used by hundreds of students from the Cambridge Public School and other educational institutions during mornings and evenings. Joggers and senior citizens are also using the space extensively. Even as the issue continues to develop, management of the Cambridge School has volunteered to maintain the playground. However, residents feel that with the State clearance in place, it won’t be long before work on the judges’ complex is initiated.
For now, the associations are mustering public support to keep the possibility at bay. And hoping that the layout’s 10,000-odd residents would get to use what’s clearly one of the few surviving open spaces in their neighbourhood.