The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : School criticises allotment of land for fuel station

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 15, 2006
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

School criticises allotment of land for fuel station

Staff Reporter

Civic amenity site cannot be used as playground: BDA

BANGALORE: Parents of students of Innisfree House School in J.P. Nagar have expressed resentment over allotment of land adjoining the school for a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fuel station.

Students had been using it as a playground for the past 16 years ever since the inception of the school. Now, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), which had reserved the land as civic amenity (CA) site, had allotted it for setting up the CNG fuel station, they said.

"This will deny our children space for extra-curricular activities. This is also one of the few lung spaces available in the locality. How can the BDA allot the site next to the school for construction of a fuel station, which would be a hazard for our children?" asked Aparna Mahesh, whose two children study in the pre-nursery and nursery classes in the school.

Nearly 800 students study in the school which has classes from pre-nursery to12th standard. The land is being used for playing football, kho-kho and other games.

The playground and the school form part of the 1.5-acre CA site no. 36. Two-thirds of the land was allotted for the school. The remaining portion was being used as the playground. According to the school's trustee Sudhir Kamat, the land was first allotted for a recreation club. Following protests, the BDA allotted it to the Department of Youth Services and Sports. Now the land had been allotted for CNG station, Mr. Kamat said.

Reacting to the protest, BDA Commissioner K. Shankarlinge Gowda said that the CA sites were not meant to be used as playground. Two years ago, the BDA allotted the land to a woman from the Scheduled Caste for setting up of the fuel station which was a civic amenity. The allotment was made after considering the objections of the school, Mr. Gowda told The Hindu. The school that had constructed its building on the entire site allotted could not ask for more land for a playground, he said.

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