The story ‘Whither lung space?’ that appeared in these columns on May 14 had readers in large numbers responding to the government proposal to set up Kala Bharathi at NTR Stadium in the city. Here are some of the responses.
The beauty of the NTR stadium is its accessibility for people from all walks of life, since it has no entry fee and is one of the few places where the urban poor can also enjoy a game and some vigorous exercise. In addition, it is also an important venue for democratic expression, dharnas and protests that take place in and around the stadium. Any building such as Kala Bharathi would only serve to take away a venue for protest, and essentially convert the area into a restricted access place.
Gandhinagar
As per the information gathered, organised recreational and open spaces currently available in HMDA core area is reported to occupy less than one per cent of land, providing per capita recreational area of hardly around one square metre as against the minimum basic requirement of around three square metres.
The city core area is already experiencing serious air pollution problem because of increasing motor vehicle population, congested roads, lack of adequate public transport network etc. As a result, there is an urgent need to enhance the area of lung spaces and green belts rather than depleting/reducing these areas. With the authorised and unauthorised reduction of the earmarked areas, breathing space in the city has already reduced and it’s going to be much worse.
Capt. J. Rama Rao
Banjara Hills
Certainly the public mood, that counters that of present rulers, is for preserving the heritage of Hyderabad and stopping the reckless destruction of the same by any chance. We understand the city better than we did earlier and have learned to respect the traditional development of four centuries which made it what it is today. We would like to save the lung space, that’s now the NTR stadium, mend it to the needs of future citizens and preserves it.
Senior Architect Avala Buchi Reddy
Barkatpura
A structure such as Telangana Kala Bharathi should come up adjacent to ORR which is easy to access by general public from the districts. It also gives a right scope of development around surrounding areas. No one supports destroying lung spaces in the name of development. As there are many options available to construct Kala Bharathi, the government should consider them all and choose the best.
Srinath
Hyderabad
