Netas fight over park; residents, take a hike!

Netas fight over park; residents, take a hike!
A tussle between Congress MLA Priya Krishna and BJP MLC V Somanna is the reason why the new park in Maruthi Layout isn’t open to public
M K Ashoka ashoka.mk@timesgroup.com


The park at Maruthi Layout in Vijayanagar has been ready for the last six months, but residents can’t use it till it’s inaugurated. And it can’t be inaugurated till the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) decides on who will inaugurate it.
Sources in the BBMP said, officials are caught between the devil and the deep sea. The usual procedure is for the area’s MLA and corporator to inaugurate the park.
But the situation here is tricky with area corporator Shakuntala Lakkappa of the BJP insisting that the park be opened by party leader, former minister V Somanna.
“We will talk to him and get the inauguration done by next month,” she said, adding that there were also technical problems since the engineer concerned was on leave.
Getting Somanna to open the park may not be that easy since he is a former MLA (though he was later nominated as an MLC) who was defeated by Congress’ Priya Krishna in the bypolls. And Priya Krishna is not willing to give up so easily.
He said if the park was ready, it would be inaugurated on Monday or Tuesday. “It has to be inaugurated by the horticulture department and according to protocol, they have to invite me. Inexperienced corporators do not have the knowledge,” Priya Krishna maintained.
‘NO NEED FOR INAUGURATION’
Somanna, however, said that if the park was ready, he would get it inaugurated by next morning. “I have built about 130 parks and have never gone for the inauguration. No inauguration is needed. If the park is ready, I will see to it that it is opened soon,” he said.
And while the netas battle it out, residents say that locking the park — built on a 140x60 area at a cost of more than Rs 5 lakh — for whatever reasons, is meaningless.
Resident Priyamani said: “Since people are not using the park, there are weeds growing on the path and equipment there will go waste,” she said.