PARK IT!

PARK IT!
Part of the High Street Children’s Park might be given up to make way for a Bangalore One office and public toilets
ANJALI MUTHANNA, High Street


In a time when property developers are snapping up plots to build apartment complexes, the residents of High Street consider themselves lucky to have two parks on the same street — one between High Street and Milton Street, and a children’s park just opposite. However, there is a possibility that a portion of the children’s park might have to be surrendered to make way for a Bangalore One office and public toilets for senior citizens.
This is cause for great concern among citizens in the area, who say that children will be deprived of a space to play in. “There are a lot of apartments that are coming up here, and several young families are moving into them. So their children need a place to play. In fact, the park is packed with children who come here every evening and on weekends,” says N Ramesh, president of REWACT (Residents’ Welfare Association of Cooke Town).
The area in the park that has been marked for the construction of the Bangalore One office and the toilets is used by children to play badminton, says High Street resident Ram Bajaj. “In fact, they nearly started construction in January, but we got it stalled. Why should there be a Bangalore One office here when there’s one in HBR Layout, which is just 3 km away?” he asks.
Ram adds that the idea of having public toilets in the park is impractical. “The elderly residents who use the park opposite all live close by and therefore have no need for a public toilet here. If those toilets are constructed here, it will be unhygienic for the children. Moreover, the toilets will only end up being used by undesirable elements,” he says. There is also the issue of the parking space that will be required for anyone who uses the proposed Bangalore One office. High Street is only 25 feet wide at that point, which means that there will not be enough space for cars to park and allow moving traffic to pass at the same time. “The authorities should be looking after more immediate issues such as garbage collection and disposal,” says Sarah Paul, who lives in an apartment overlooking the children’s park. “For instance, there’s a pile of leaves right where children play badminton, which hasn’t been cleared in quite a while,” she says.
While Ram has sent a petition to joint commissioner Puttuswamy and received an acknowledgement, there’s no final word on whether the construction will start. “But if they start building anything in this park, we’ll take very strong action to oppose it,” says property develeoper Aslam Fazal.