CARted out

CARted out

Govt plans to trim the sprawling greens of the Bangalore Golf Club to build a parking lot for visitors to CM’s official residence. Also coming up: A building for the High Grounds police station

Praveen Kumar
Posted On Monday, May 25, 2009 at 12:36:01 AM

The grounds of the Golf Course

City’s well-known club for golfers - Bangalore Golf Club - which has already lost a considerable amount of green space due to the widening of Sankey road, is all set to lose some more.

The state government is contemplating the acquisition of around 5,000 square feet of the club’s land on Kumara Krupa Road to set up a parking lot for visitors to ‘Krishna’, the chief minister’s official residence. The piece of land will also be used to construct a building for the High Grounds Police who lost their station building - a landmark — in an earlier road widening work.

An official at the CMO said the move has been initiated considering the security aspect near the chief minister’s official residence. The visitors at present have no option but to park their vehicles on the road in front of the compound, leading to traffic jams when buses coming from both sides get stuck for want of space. Protesters gathering in front of the gate is another cause of traffic jams on this stretch, affecting the movement of the chief minister in case of an urgency, the officer said.

According to sources, the CMO had sent the proposal to the principal secretary of the urban development department, from where it was forwarded to the BBMP a few months ago.

A team of BBMP engineers also surveyed the land and were about to prepare a sketch and send it to the CMO, they said, adding that based on the suggestion by the BBMP, the CMO might send a notice to the BGC.

“The CMO may even acquire the land without even sending the notice to the BGC, as the land on which the golf course is set up belongs to the Public Works Department and it was allotted on lease basis to BGC. If the government wants the land, the golf course has to make way. They cannot raise objections. In fact, the government may occupy the land before the Golf Course raises any objection,” the officer added.

But the move may not be a cakewalk for the government, as the BGC management, which comprises some people in high places, may put up a stiff resistance.

M M P Bajaj, secretary of the club, said they were yet to receive any communication from the CMO in this regard. “In case of any notice, we will call a general body meeting and chalk out measures to fight against the proposal,” he added.

Proposed plot
The land in consideration starts from the Crescent Road junction on the Kumara Krupa Road till the corner of the CM’s official residence. It is also planned to accommodate here the jurisdictional High Grounds police station which at present functions from a make-shift shed opposite the Bangalore Turf Club, said an official at the CMO.