Running away from Cubbon Park

Running away from Cubbon Park
Road digging by KPTCL in the park to lay power cables is shooing away joggers and morning walkers
NIRANJAN KAGGERE


The stretch between Tiffany’s Circle and Sheshadri Aiyar Memorial in Cubbon Park was a favourite with the joggers. Now it looks more like an abandoned mining area as KPTCL is digging up roads here to lay underground 220 KV power cables till KR Circle.
Apart from footpaths, digging work has encroached nearly 75 per cent of the road on this stretch. Speeding vehicles kick up a dust and choke joggers. Rain makes the path marshy. One wrong step in this uneven terrain and the jogger can land in a pit. The custom of closing some gates of the park from 5 am to 8 am to facilitate joggers has been broken to let in labourers and vehicles.
According to M P V Shenoy, an urban planner and a retired engineer, this road digging is nothing but snatching away the rights of people. Not all areas of the park are as good as this stretch. A few spots are even used as toilets. “It is unimaginable to run in such areas,” says Sunil Kumar, an government engineer who jogs here. Many female joggers feel that they have lost one of the safe spots. Sindhu, a home maker and morning jogger, says, “I come around 7:30 am to the park after dropping my daughter to the school. By that time, you can see many unwanted elements hanging around the park and it is scary to jog alone. Safety is a concern here.”
It is the Horticulture department which gave the nod for road digging. K G Jayadev, deputy director of Horticulture at Cubbon Park, explains, “They have sought one month permission to lay the underground cables.
Fearing that the project would make joggers and walkers inconvenient, we had not given permission for the last one year. On the condition that they should not disturb the vegetation, block the movement of joggers and walkers, we have given them permission. If the joggers and walkers are still facing any inconvenience we will direct the officials to take precautions.”
NO ENTRY FOR PETS
Taking pets along during the morning walk will soon be banned inside Cubbon Park. “Though we put sign boards all around that pets are not allowed inside the park, there are many who bring pets with them. Many have also complained about it but we were running short of security staff. Now with the completion of tendering work for the security personnel, we will implement the ban on walking pets effectively,” Jayadev explained.