Upalokayuta for curbing traffic through Cubbon Park

Cubbon Park has seven public roads, which are used by at least 10,000 vehicles daily. — File photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

Curbing traffic movement within Cubbon Park, one of the biggest lung spaces in the city, was mooted by Upalokayukta Subash B. Adi on Monday.

His suggestion came during an interaction with the Cubbon Park Walkers’ Association and other stakeholders, where the traffic within the park premises and also the parking of vehicles came up for discussion. He suggested that the parking of vehicles inside the park should be banned.

Cubbon Park has seven public roads, which according to officials, are used by at least 10,000 vehicles daily. The park is used by at least 3,000 walkers daily besides a large number of tourists visiting the lung space.

Discussions

Mr. Adi’s suggestion was welcomed by representatives of walkers’ association, who also urged the Horticulture Department officials to prevent parking. The officials, later told presspersons that the department would consider the suggestion by discussing it with the police before seeking the State government’s approval.

Meanwhile, several suggestions were put forth by walkers, among whom senior IAS officer and Managing Director of Karnataka Small Scale Industries Corporation Somashekar, was also present.

He suggested re-introduction of “Udyanadalli Udayaraga”, a popular project of classical rendition of morning ragas on Sundays. Besides, he suggested that a mobile van of Coffee Board could be stationed to vend coffee to walkers in the morning. “The restaurant that functioned in the children’s library area earlier could be restarted in the evenings. Unfortunately the library is being underutilised.”

Jyoti Thyagarajan, a retired teacher, said that park needs to be declared a horn-free zone and speed limit curtailed. “Additional toilets, drinking water facilities and waste bins should be introduced.”

Walkers’ Association President Umesh was present.