Will reclaim ill-kept CSR parks: BBMP

BENGALURU: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has decided that parks and medians which have not been maintained well by private firms, under the CSR initiative, will be taken back. At a meeting chaired by BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad and Administrator Gaurav Gupta, the two officials took stock of the condition of parks and playgrounds and stated that parks should not just look attractive, but be well-maintained.

“Their natural and aesthetic beauty, along with their uniqueness, should be well taken care of as some of them are in a bad condition,” the Commissioner pointed out, adding that special preference should be given to Freedom Park, JP Park, the MG Road Boulevard and government parks. 

“Most medians have been taken over by private firms for maintenance, under the CSR initiative, but they are not looking nice and are poorly maintained. Engineers and Horticulture and Forest Department officials should take stock of them, review them, and if found to be badly maintained, they should be taken back from the private firms, with their licences cancelled,” he added.According to BBMP records, there are 1,352 parks under BBMP limits, of which 1,118 have been developed and 234 are yet to be developed.