Parks, lakes and more... BBMP makes big plans for Bengaluru

With the city having lost a great deal of its green cover, the BBMP plans to plant more trees , create more  parks and give  flyovers and major junctions an attractive makeover to give Namma Bengaluru a much needed facelift.

Parks and medians
Perhaps signaling a new found commitment to the cause, the BBMP has set aside as much as Rs 60 crore for maintenance and development of parks. It also promises to covert vacant land in new zones into parks under its Chandana Vana programme and develop new parks in Dasarahalli, Bomma nahalli and Rajaraje shwari Nagar with funds from the Union and state governments.  Other parks, medians, flyovers, circles, eight entry points to the city and railway station will be beautified at a cost of Rs 10 cr.

Solid Waste Management
The BBMP, which has set aside Rs 300 crore for solid waste management, has okayed the plans of Satharam enterprises, Organic Waste India and S.L group to establish processing units of 2200 tonnes capacity a day.

The government has meanwhile signed an MOU with Nexus Nova Company of Netherland to establish a unit generating electricity from 600 tonnes of garbage a day.

The BBMP also plans to make it compulsary for houses constructed on 60x40 ft sites and more to process their wet waste. It hopes to add 4000 more pourakarmikas to the 20,000 in the city and give all of them mid-day meals. In other plans, public toilets will be built in 250 places, 80 e-toilets and 60 community toilets under the Swachch Bharath Abhiyan campaign.

Storm Water Drains
Despite the regular flooding the city sees in rain, the BBMP has made no exclusive allocation for storm water drains. Instead it plans to use some  of the Rs 2158 crore allocated by the government for special basic infrastructure for  remodelling and reviving the city’s SWD network.

Flyovers, grade seperators
Depending on the release of  government funds, the BBMP plans to construct grade separators at Suranjan Das Road, Old Madras Road, Sarjapura-Haralur Road Junction, Hulimavu Junction, Arakere Junction, and Sony World Junction (Koramangala 6th Block). It also hopes to  build a flyover from ITC to Banaswadi Outer Ring Road, a steel bridge from Minerva Circle to Town Hall and a steel bridge at Shivananda Circle. The stretch from Hosur Road to Begur could be widened, and  a flyover built from Pipeline Road to Ring Road via Kurubarahalli.

Markets
Prominent mar kets like Russell Market, Johnson Mar ket and K.R Market are slated to get a face lift at a cost of Rs 10 crore . State government funds allocated under special infrastructure projects will be used to develop these heritage markets.

Tree planting
The city could see as many two lakh trees being planted in all its 198 wards under the ‘Hasiru Usiru Yojane’ if the BBMP keep to its word. It has set aside '6 crore for the project, which will focus on planting environment-friendly trees like Cherry, Honge, Halasu, Bevu, Nelli, Sampige and Nerale to attract birds. In a novel initiative, training sessions on saving trees will be held for house-owners during the year by the BBMP, which has also decided to do a tree census in the city.

Lakes
Admitting that only 89 of the 108 lakes in its jurisdiction are lived still, the BBMP has set aside Rs 10 crore for development of new lakes and Rs 4 crore  for maintenance of existing lakes. Over 22 lakes have been handed over to the BDA for their development and over 13 lakes to private organizations for maintenance. While Rs 50 crore has been sanctioned by the State Finance Commission, the government has decided to give an additional Rs 50 crore under its Special Infrastructure Programme for lake development.

Sports and culture
As much as Rs2 crore has been allocated for building a Nada Prabhu Kempe gowda Samadi in Kempapura village near Magadi Road and Rs 1 crore for a Kempegowda Research Centre in Bengaluru University. A sum of Rs 2.50 crore has ben set aside for renovation of the Kempegowda Museum.

Other plans include upgradation of the Dr.Rajkumar Kalakshethra in Rajajinagar at a cost of Rs 1 crore, building a Kannada Mane in the grounds of the Kannada Sahitya Parishat and organizing a Bengaluru Karaga Mahothsava.

The agency promises to give priority to developing and maintaining the  Gavi Gangadha reshwara Temple, the Magadi Kempegowda Fort and the Summer Palace of Tippu Sultan in the city. It also promise o develop its vacant land into playgrounds for its school and college students under the ‘Angala’ scheme.

 Education
The BBMP plans to install CCTV cameras at all its schools and colleges under its ‘Kangavalu Yojane’ to keep them safe.  It promises to help students speak and write in English in its schools under the ‘Namma Shaleyalli English Kaliyona’ programme and distribute  free BMTC bus passes to its student travelling long distances under the ‘Saarige-Shalege’ programme.

Palike-Bhoomi
All documents pertaining to BBMP properties will be uploaded on its website Palike-Bhoomi along with photographs.  The  properties will  be given a property identification number, which will also pop up on the website . As much  as Rs 10 crore has been set aside for fencing vacant BBMP land to prevent their encroachment. It will also now be mandatory for all   leased and rented properties to be registered  in a sub-registrar's office