KHB, Please don’t build malls on playgrounds!

by September 4, 2013 Infrastructure
Karnataka Housing Board is building a commercial complex on a playground in Yelahanka Satellite Town in Bangalore, when there are already too many malls coming up nearby.

Yelahanka Satellite Town was once a very peaceful little town. But the boom in the land prices due to the opening of the International Airport is turning this town into another messy metropolis centre.  Every other road is being converted into a commercial road and every vacant site is being filled with huge complexes at jet speed. 

What is hurting is that the Karnataka Housing Board, which designed this beautiful township, themselves are causing this sudden spurt of construction activities. 

A huge piece of land with nearly 70-80 trees is now being turned into a concrete structure of some commercial complex being built by KHB themselves. All the trees were felled in no time! 

Now, the next victim is the only huge vacant space in the first phase just behind BWSSB, which is serving as a lovely playground for hundreds of children and youth.  It seems the Cabinet has approved construction of a mall on this piece of land!

Already there are malls, why one more?

This land is surrounded by educational institutions – National Public School, Yelahanka, Seshadripuram School and College, Yelahanka, Bishop Cottons College of Management Studies, a Nursing College, Jnana Jyothi School and College and a hospital. How can a mall function in the midst of all these?

Just two furlongs away on Bellary Road, a huge mall and apartment complex are coming up. Another two furlongs away inside the township, KHB is constructing a commercial complex and the entire stretch of the first main road just behind this land is lined up with commercial complexes on either side. Hence there is no necessity to build a mall here.

Already, the junction has a very heavy flow of traffic and people find it difficult to cross the roads. Parking has become a menace for the residents around this place. If this piece of land is also converted into a concrete jungle, where will the poor children play? 

Will the authorities please stop this project and help Yelahanka Satellite Town residents?

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About Sudha Narasimhachar

Sudha Narasimhachar is a retired banker and freelance writer based in Bengaluru.
Read more by Sudha Narasimhachar

Comments:

  1. Mohan J says:
    October 19, 2013 at 11:32 am

    This is so outrageous. All of us Yelahanka residents should group together and fight back. Such robbery will end only when permission of local residents is made mandatory for any civic construction/modification plans.

    Reply

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