While established parks like Cubbon park and Lalbagh seem to be the main concern of BBMP, several other parks in the city have been dying a rather well-paced death. Among the many parks which have had a rough patch for quite sometime are a set of three parks in Vijayanagar. Once well maintained, the triplets are today in shambles, decorated with wild weeds.
While most of the areas in Vijayanagar are known for their greenery, the parks present a picture of utter neglect. There are more than ten public parks in Vijayanagar which are maintained properly, but three parks on Chord road near Gayathri hospital remains ignored by authorities. The Park in front of Gayatri hospital has become a dumpyard for the hospital and houses, and the other two lack proper maintenance and seating arrangements.
“Nobody wants to enter these parks as there is no maintenance. There is every chance that one can encounter several harmful insects breeding under the abandoned trees.
The five seats in front of the hospital are maintained well by the hospital and they are used by the visitors and patients, but the rest are all in bad shape,” said Shanmugam, a construction worker. “With plants and weeds growing uncontrollably, nobody seems to be bother about it,” he added.
Describing the condition of the park, a senior citizen who uses the park for jogging said, “It’s absurd to see that BBMP has decorated the garden with filth to welcome the people. Many senior citizens used to come here for jogging, but there is no seating arrangements if one is tired. So the numbers have drastically reduced.”
Echoing similar sentiments, Ashok, a vendor said, “The situation is same since last eight months and no BBMP workers visit the park. People used to frequent the park earlier, but now it is the same as roaming the streets with garbage around.”
Besides, the basic amenities are missing in almost all parks. In some, the seats are missing and others are being used by metro workers to store the equipments.