Visit this quiet oasis to relax

Visit this quiet oasis to relax

Aramane Nagar residents' role in maintaining park yields good results

Vaishalli Chandra



Far from the city's maddening crowd is the serene and verdant RMV II Stage Park in Aramane Nagar ward. The layouts around this lung space give a visitor Chandigarh-like feel with their large houses, wide roads and segregated garbage kept neatly in bins outside homes.
The park, popularly known as 'rectangle park', has about 3000 trees which allow enough sunlight to keep the place warm. Creepers running around their trunk add to the beauty. "Creepers are grown on them only to enhance the park's visual appeal," says Dr Jagadeesh N Belur, president of the local residents' welfare association which is maintaining the park.
The trees act like a green shied shutting off the noise emerging from the mounting traffic outside. In fact, park visitors can sit comfortably on the clean benches listening to the symphony of the birds until 10am.
Besides birds, this two-acre oasis draws many joggers and yoga freaks in the mornings. The park has an area marked for yoga classes.
But what makes the park unique is the recharge well and the two pits that turn leaf litter into compost.
The low-lying park lets the storm water to collect in the shoulder drains that prevent filth from getting inside. The water is then channelled into the 25-ft deep recharge well. Since the surroundings are litter-free, the drains don't get clogged, says Dr Belur.
For the comfort of visitors, cement benches have been erected on a tiled and elevated area. "A couple of years back, some people came here to re-do the lawn. But we approached the officials concerned to make a few alterations," says he.
The benches are a result of that. Instead of re-doing the lawn at a cost of Rs 6.75 lakh, the association decided to retain the grass and with the allotted funds, it set up cement benches for visitors.
The holistic approach of the association reflects at every level, "Our garbage segregation programme called SHOW (scientific handling of waste), that is run by the women of the area, ensures segregation of wet and dry waste. Only 10% goes to the landfills. The rest is used for composting," says Dr Belur.
In fact, the two pits in the park serve as ideal spots to create leaf mulch that, in turn, is used to nurture the plants and trees. These are used by residents too.
BBMP has provided the association with buckets for segregation of waste. The locality has about 350 houses and the Palike have distributed pamphlets mentioning control room numbers for the benefit of residents. With no clear legislations or rules governing waste management, the association along with the BBMP has taken up on themselves to give Palike only 10% of waste generated. The rest is cleared at the source.
"BBMP just built the park. Its maintenance is being done by the residents who take pride in its upkeep," says Dr Shivprasad, corporator of Aramane Nagar.
"The park is an ideal example of partnership between residents and corporation officials. Citizens' monitoring and involvement has brought splendid results," he says.
A manager is maintaining the park with the help of three gardeners, adds Dr Belur. The park is equipped with a lawn mower and a road sweeper that clears away all the leaves thereby making the job easier for the gardeners.
The maintenance staffers are provided with a toilet and office space so that they can rest there while taking a break. The office space has a map showing all the plots. The residents who live in the vicinity are like a close-knit family with everyone pitching in to make it a better place.
"For the benefit of senior citizens, there are plans to keep stretchers ready in case of emergency," says Dr Belur.
c_vaishalli@dnaindia.net In nature's lap: Park visitors can sit comfortably on the benches in RMV II Stage Park listening to the symphony of the birds until 10am