By Chandrima Mazumdar
The citizens of BTM Layout have turned to social media to voice their protest against the construction of an indoor stadium in 1st Stage, BTM Layout. According to the residents, the neighbourhood lacks any open space for children, and the space allotted for the stadium was reserved for a playground as per Karnataka High Court judgement. The worried Twitterati tagged MLA Sowmya Reddy of Jayanagar who is known for her advocacy for open spaces and environment conservation.
Earlier this month, MLA Ramalinga Reddy of BTM Layout had tweeted to inform about laying the foundation stone for the construction of the indoor stadium in the area next to Madiwala Ward Office at 16th Main Road, BTM Layout. The funds for the project, which is estimated to be at Rs 2 crores have been sanctioned by the Nagarothana grant of the state government in 2017-18.
The Petition
The residents have also petitioned the authorities to retain the 2.13 acres of land near the Madiwala BBMP Ward Office 172 as a playground. Previously, Honourable Justice DV Shylendra Kumar had ruled that the area was to be maintained as a park, and had directed the BBMP and BDA to keep it that way. The citizens contend that they have been deprived of an open space due to the litigation of the land ever since.
The petition also mentions raising the issue in multiple forums of BTM Layout without any relief. The stadium plan is shocking to the residents as it was revived again without any citizen consultation. This is particularly autocratic as even BBMP Commissioner Manjunatha Prasad had mentioned that the land was being developed as a park for Rs 60 lakhs under Project number 172-20-000062 in the BBMP budget of 2019-2020.
Our calls to MLA Ramalinga Reddy went unanswered, while the BBMP Chief Engineer denied any knowledge of the stadium as he was new to the job.
In 2017, another plan to develop a playground in BTM 2nd stage into a stadium was aborted after outrage by the citizens. Ramalinga Reddy (then state home minister) was forced to drop the plan “since people do not want it”.
