In the race to build 125 Indira Canteens by Independence Day, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has attracted a fair amount of criticism for allocating parks and playgrounds as sites to build the canteens.
Complaints have come from various wards where residents say that notified parks and playgrounds were being taken over to set up the canteens.
In the last few days, residents of JP Nagar, Jayanagar, Malleswaram, and Vijayanagar have protested about trees being cut to make way for the canteens.
Suresh Tota, a resident of Sarakki, JP Nagar, said that a canteen in his neighbourhood was coming up on a notified playground which is regularly used by children. “A couple of big trees were felled around 15 to 20 days ago,” he said, adding that the residents were worried about a canteen coming up in a purely residential area.
In the wake of growing protests, Minister for Bengaluru Development K.J. George said that he has instructed officials not to use notified parks or temples for setting up the canteens. “Officials have been given instructions that trees should not be cut. Where people have raised concerns we have agreed to move the site,” Mr. George said.
CEO of Namma Bengaluru Foundation Sridhar Pabbishetty said that the number of random incidents being reported showed that not enough care had been put into choosing sites for the canteens.
“In Domlur, Rajajinagar, and Jayangar, citizens have faced challenges owing to wrong selection of sites for Indira canteens. The government should have been more careful and ensured that trees were not cut arbitrarily,” Mr. Pabbishetty said.
It takes 8 days to build one canteen
While citizens were initially sceptical if Indira Canteens would come up by August 15, sources say as the canteens are being built using pre-cast technology, they could come up in just eight days (four days of erection time and four days of finishing). Each Assembly constituency will have a kitchen to cater to eight wards in its jurisdiction. The canteens, once launched, will cater to approximately 3 lakh people each day.
