BENGALURU: The early morning walkers in Turahalli Tree Park were taken by surprise on Monday when they found gym equipment inside the park. Locals strongly opposed the move and said that the park didn’t need equipment as it will hamper conservation efforts. The park has already been carved out of an existing reserve forest patch. On the other hand, some people said that when a portion has already been marked for the public to walk, then the further addition of gym equipment will not make much of a difference.
“If people are so concerned about conservation, then they should rather demand that the government closes the space for walkers and acclaimed birders, because any form of human presence will affect conservation,” said Paresh M, a localite.
Leo Saldanha, coordinator and trustee of the Environment Support Group, said that the gym equipment is not required and instead birding and boulder-climbing should be encouraged. “These equipment will set bad precedence as non-forestry projects like this will now be replicated in other districts as well,” he added.
Karnataka forest department has installed six gym equipment at the cost of Rs 8 lakh. They are now procuring children play equipment at the cost of Rs 14 lakh to be installed in the same place. The forest department official said, “The equipment have been kept on the directions of the state government. The government has defended that since it is not creating an extended tree park because of public protest, it had decided to add more facilities for citizens in the existing area. Even as we were not keen on adding any of these, it’s the government’s directions and we had to follow. We are trying to ensure that trees are not further cut to make extra space.”