Concerns of residents in and around Race Course and those using the green space for exercise have grown since the Coimbatore Corporation has taken up the model road work under the Smart Cities Mission.
The Corporation is executing the work at ₹40.70 crore on the three km road.
Right from the start the residents have had concern but this was about preserving the greenery and the possibility of allowing eateries. Now, the concerns had only grown because the Corporation had cut around 70 trees, started work at Thomas Park and demolished the traffic islands at the Race Course Road-East Club House Road junction, said residents.
The corporation, without taking into confidence the residents, had almost destroyed the Thomas Park on the north eastern side of the Race Course. Their inquiries revealed the civic body’s plans to build an amphitheatre or badminton court or some such facility about which there was no clarity since the civic body took up the project, thanks to an intransigent approach, the residents said.
The park was house to a variety of trees grown over the years and its destruction has had residents worried.
Likewise, at the junction, the corporation had removed the traffic islands, the residents said.
This was beside the removal of trees on the inner side of the Race Course walking track, said V. Jawahar of Maram Trust. In the name of Model Road work, the corporation was not just removing trees and plants but pouring concrete in those places.
This was not what the residents had wished for, he added.
The residents said their efforts to reach out to the civic body or the Coimbatore Smart City Limited officials had not yielded the desired results because they were not forthcoming on what exactly wa the civic body’s plans for Race Course.
Civic activist K. Kathirmathiyon said the corporation’s reluctance to share details went against the Central Government’s objective of implementing projects after taking into confidence the residents concerned.
The corporation should disclose who it had consulted before taking up the project. It should also show if it had taken the permission of the Revenue Department officer concerned before chopping off the trees.
He further said that they way the corporation implemented the project only suggested it had taken up the model road project not for people’s sake but for spending money.
Besides, the removal of traffic islands showed that the civic body had least concerns for road safety or rules framed by other government agencies.
Corporation sources said the civic body would engage with the residents and take them into confidence.