Apartments mushroom without space for parks or trees
Areas like Madhapur, Gachibowli and Kondapur have several impressive buildings but hardly any green areas.
Hyderabad: Areas in Cyberabad like Gachibowli, Madhapur and Kondapur — with mainly IT offices and apartments — while dotted with impressive buildings, hardly have any green spaces.
Unlike residential localities in Hyderabad where parks are a common feature, these IT spaces are mostly concrete. While gated communities have small namesake green lawns, there are hardly any parks.
One of the biggest parks in the Cyberabad limits — the Biodiversity Park spread over 20 acre near Gachibowli — which was ceremoniously inaugurated a few years back, has been shut for long.
Resident Welfare Association members say that residents are also to be blamed with the GHMC. Ashwin Kumar, vice president, United Federation of Resident Welfare Associations (UFERWAS) said, “IT areas like Gachibowli and Madhapur have become concrete jungles as apartments have mushroomed without any regulation. As per rules, 40 per cent of a layout should be for public utilities like parks and roads, which has not been followed. Also, residents in these areas are not enthusiastic about community involvement. We have just 10 to 20 RWAs registered with us from the region and they are not that active.”
Dr C. Rao, president of UFERWAS, says, “Most people living in IT areas do not have a sense of belonging as many of them live in rented houses. In the city, RWAs pursued the issue and got parks sanctioned for their localities. In many areas the parks are being maintained completely by RWAs. GHMC cannot be blamed every time, people should take interest."
A senior official of the GHMC’s urban biodiversity wing said, “If representatives of registered RWAs come to us with an earmarked location without any legal hassles for a park, we will help them; and even provide 30 per cent of the money required for maintenance.”
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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