The ongoing work on Nrupathunga Road has thrust a host of problems on Cubbon Park. It has gone from being one of the prime lung spaces in the city to bearing the brunt of close to two lakh vehicles passing through every day.
This is double the daily average before work on Nrupathunga Road began. Officials managing Cubbon Park have written to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to speed up work on Nrupathunga Road to reduce the damage to plants and birds in the park due to the increase in noise and light pollution.
Normally, the gates at Cubbon Park are closed between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m., offering some respite to all that the park houses. In addition, no vehicle was allowed inside the park on Sundays.
The ordeal of the plants, trees and birds in Cubbon Park began on February 26 when BBMP began white topping Nrupathunga Road along with TenderSURE work. The 24x7 traffic from K.R. Circle to Hudson Circle was diverted via Cubbon Park.
Toll on birds, plants
“This began taking a toll on plants and birds in the park,” said S. Umesh, president, Cubbon Park Walkers' Association, which has 3,000 members. Mr. Umesh has submitted a complaint to the Lokayukta against the BBMP, traffic police and the Horticulture Department.
“The traffic police had said only light vehicles would be allowed inside Cubbon Park. But now, all kinds of vehicles are being allowed. Close to 20,000 bats, which used to live in two huge trees that had to make way for the new office of the Police Commissioner, migrated to Cubbon Park. But after the vehicle movement became 24x7, we have seen at least five bats dying every day,” he claimed.
Letter to BBMP
Mahantesh Murgod, Deputy Director, Cubbon Park, admitted that noise and light pollution are having an adverse impact on the park, but denied the death of bats or any other species of birds. “It has been two months since vehicles started plying 24 hours inside Cubbon Park and this is causing pollution. The number of vehicles passing through the park has doubled. We have written to the BBMP asking them to finish work as early as possible,” he said.
Meanwhile, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic) R. Hithendra said the BBMP had told the police that work on Nrupathunga Road would be completed by May 7. But he expressed helplessness about the increase in vehicle movement inside Cubbon Park.
BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad said construction is over and curing work is under way. “We want the road to last at least 30 years, which is why we want to give time for curing. The road will be completed within 10 days,” he said.
