BANGALORE: MN Krishna Rao Park located in Basavanagudi gets is named after late MN Krishna Rao, acting Dewan of Mysore. The park has a playground for young gully champs to practice on, a walking track that is almost a kilometre long in circumference and a vast play area with open space and swings.
The park is a haven for fitness enthusiasts and children. It is developed over an area of 86,000 square metres (excluding the water reservoir) and it is probably one of the oldest parks in the city.
“I have been coming to this park since I was a child, that is over 50 years ago. Of course, at that time it was not as well-developed as it is now,” said Jowher Banu, a resident of NR Colony.
She further added that the reason she likes coming to the park is because of the number of trees. “Very few places in the city have such big trees that are still standing. So many trees have been cut to accommodate for the city’s growth. This still feels like how Bangalore was when I was growing up.”
The peripheral track is approximately 800 metres in length. It also boasts of a play ground for young cricketers in the making and a play area for children. MN Krishna Rao Park is one of the few parks in the city that also caters to differently-abled children.
The inclusive play space has a number of specially designed colourful swings for the children. Sarita, another resident of NR Colony brings her daughter regularly to the park.
“I bring her as often as possible. The best thing about this park is vast expanse of open space available for children to play in. On the flip side, the swings have not been maintained well. Most of the paint has chipped off and some of the swings are rusty as well.
On hearing this, Krishna Murthy, assistant engineer for Horticulture department gave assurance that the repair work will begin in the next 15 days. “I have given a proposal for all repair work — damaged benches and track, maintenance of swing and the lack of drinking water available in the park. By the end of next month there will also be a compose pit in the park,” he said.
Another important issue on the list is the lack of toilets. Speaking with City Express about the same BBMP executive engineer, Rajesh said, “We have spoken with the BBMP commissioner about the toilets. The construction for the same will begin in two to three weeks from now. Rs 10 lakh will be spent on five toilets. Three for women and two for men.”