Email campaign for park gets CM’s attention

Email campaign for park gets CM’s attention
Annoyed at Cubbon Park’s poor upkeep, senior citizens e-mail the chief minister to see things for himself. CMO takes note of the complaint
Niranjan.Kaggere @timesgroup.com


Its name is inextricably associated with that of Bangalore, and its budget runs into crores, but some parts of Cubbon Park look decidedly run down. The sorry state of affairs in the park — its official moniker is ‘Sri Chamarajendra Park’ — has galvanised a group of elderly morning walkers into shooting off an e-mail to the chief minister’s office. The senior citizens, all residents of J P Nagar, have requested chief minister B S Yeddyurappa to see things for himself by changing the route of his morning constitutional from the Vidhana Soudha garden to Cubbon Park.
The e-mail, a copy of which is with Bangalore Mirror, says, “Chief Minister Sir, we kindly request you to spare some time and walk from the Central Library to the Mahatma Gandhi Statue entrance as part of your daily walk, and you will see for yourself how badly the prestigious park has been maintained despite huge allocation of funds.”
Group representative Ramakrishna Udupa told this paper, “Most of the walkers and joggers in the park use this particular stretch. Sadly, it is the most ill-maintained part of the park. We have been frequenting the park for the past 15 years. Over the past five to six years, we have found its maintenance abysmal. The pavement and walking paths have been damaged beyond repair. Even the rose garden in front of the Sheshadri Iyer hall is not attended to regularly.”
Another senior citizen said, “People may think that ‘these oldies’ are unnecessarily complaining. But we have been seeing this poor maintenance for more than six years, hoping all the while that the (horticulture) department will get some ‘jnanodaya’ (enlightenment) one day. Not finding any improvement, we decided to ‘trouble’ the chief minister.”
Their strategy seems to have worked. Officials in the CMO have forwarded the e-mail to the horticulture department with a noting calling for the necessary remedial measures. A senior official in the CMO said, “The chief minister has also spoken to the horticulture minister to look into the matter.”