BENGALURU: For quite a while, East West Park in Malleswaram had been left unused, with its gates locked, prohibiting entry to people. With assistance from the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), local residents had been trying to revive the park to make it usable again, and over the Independence Day weekend, the park finally opened its gates to children and neighbourhood residents.
Over 40 residents along with children cleaned, painted and revived the park, which is a relatively small neighbourhood park near Valmiki Park. The GBA took the initiative to revive the park as part of its “Freedom from Waste” campaign, collaborating with local residents, who were headed by civic activist Preeti Sunderajan.
Sunderajan explained that over time, the area around the park had become a black spot for garbage dumping and waste segregation with persistent concerns from residents about cleanliness, smell and loss of community space. Residents, children and GBA teams cleaned the park, painted its benches and walls, and restored the space. Several local residents and children who initially came by to see the activity also joined in and participated, she added. “When residents and the city work together, we begin to build agency, collective ownership and pride in our neighbourhood,” she said.
Achintya, a young participant from the neighbourhood, said, “I came to see what was happening and then started painting one of the benches. It was fun to do it with everyone, and I hope we can come here and use the park more often now.”