A elephant shaped slide in ruins in the park (left), the flexboard that appeared in front of the park after citizens themselves cleaned the space up (right)

Residents of Bengaluru’s Malleswaram suburb came together in a remarkable act of civic responsibility, by cleaning and reclaiming one of the oldest parks in the city, which has been in the ruins after decades of neglect, and no accountability from the elected representatives.


The elephant themed ‘Aane Park’ has been the green spot in the Malleshwaram residential area of Bengaluru, but has become nothing more than a dumping yard, that also remained closed for the public most of the time. Recognising the need for green spaces, the residents responded positively to the call for a cleanup drive for the Aane Park (Elephant Park), in efforts to reclaim the open green space for themselves.

Residents crowdfunded and came together last weekend and cleaned years of debris and other dumplings from inside of the Aane Park, with the help of Greater Bengaluru Authority and cleaned it up. While the residents and youth of the neighbourhood cleaned the park, the GBA helped the civic campaign by providing a truck to remove and dispose of the waste.

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MLA’s Pictures Appear After Works Done

To the residents’ disbelief, the next morning, plastic flex boards appeared in front of the Aane Park gate, celebrating the opening of the park with the photos of the local BJP MLA CN Ashwathnarayan, who has been the elected representative of the area since 2008 till now, under whose watch the park became a dumping yard, according to the citizens.

Dismayed by the sight of flex boards of the MLA, the local residents who actually put man hours to clean the park resisted keeping the flex boards there and put them up in the truck that was taking away the waste and debris out of the park.

“Unfortunately politics is brought into park. It is so unfortunate. Somebody does the work, somebody else takes credit for it,” said Preeti, a volunteer who was leading the clean-up drive.

After the incident, the MLA’s other social media posts on his own account are filled up with netizens calling him “Credit Stealer”.

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