Playground morphing into a parking lot

Playground morphing into a parking lot

Staff Reporter
— Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

Cars parked at Akkithimmanahalli playground in Bangalore.
BANGALORE: Akkithimmanahalli playground, which the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike claims is being “developed”, has now become a parking lot, preventing children from using a large part of the ground. Rohan D’Souza, a resident of Richmond Town and an active green, has noticed that the playground hosts far less children than it used to. “The point is that it is a public space and cannot be encroached upon,” he says.

Other residents also allege that most of the cars that are parked inside the playground are owned by those who work in the surrounding offices.

Mr. D’Souza sought to the Right To Information Act a week ago to find out if the BBMP had sanctioned either temporary or permanent permission to park their vehicles inside the playground. The information secured under the Act from the Assistant Executive Engineer of Richmond Town, BBMP, confirmed that the civic body had not given permission for parking.

It also says that since the park does not have a gate owing to the renovation of the playground, cars are being parked inside it. It adds that after the gate is installed, the playground will stop being used as a parking lot, thus promising no remedial action. However, residents allege that this has been going on since the past six months.

A few months ago, the playground was taken over by debris. Officials of the BBMP then responded by saying that the construction debris was a result of the development work, and would clear up once the ground was being renovated. “Neither has the developmental work taken off, but instead an additional hindrance has crept up owing to which children are not able to utilise the whole playground,” says another resident.