TimesView The extension of park opening hours seems to be guided by a flawed notion: green spaces are only for fitness enthusiasts or children. Parks have been part of urban settings with larger goals: creating nurturing spaces amid hectic daily life and building a sense of community in the time of fragmented existence. It may be too much to expect BBMP to rise above the umpteen challenges it is swamped with and look at reclaiming things that are getting lost with urbanisation. The least it could have done is keep parks open through the day as many people work graveyard shifts and have time to walk, run or relax only during noon hours.

BENGALURU: Morning walkers can now access Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike ( BBMP ) parks as early as at 5am and can even spend an extra hour in the evening, following the civic agency’s decision to change timings.Opening time of parks has been advanced to 5am from 6am in the morning session, while the closing timing of the evening session has been extended from 8pm to 9pm. An order on this was issued on December 13 by BBMP. Most parks across the city are abiding by the new timings.The parks are closed to the public at 10am and open again at 4pm. The Palike’s move to extend timings by an hour each in the morning and evening meets the long-pending demand of citizens who want to spend more time in the green spaces.There are 1,408 parks in BBMP limits. Of them, 1,135 are developed and the remaining 273 are yet to be developed. Bengaluru South has 255 developed parks, which is the highest among the city’s eight zones.Former mayor Gangambike M, corporator from Jayanagar ward, which is home to some of Bengaluru’s best-known parks like Krishna Rao Park, Madhavan Park and BHEL Park, welcomed the extended hours.“There are many professionals who leave for work early morning. The changed timings will help them access parks for morning walks at 5am itself. The number of youngsters and senior citizens visiting parks has been increasing due to growing awareness about staying fit,” said Gangambike.At a recent BBMP meeting, instructions were given to the engineering wing and horticulture officials to make sure play and gym equipment and electrical connections in all parks are safe and user-friendly.BBMP commissioner BH Anil Kumar said park timings were extended by one hour each in the morning and evening as “there were multiple requests from resident welfare associations”.He said instructions have been given to the officials concerned to make sure all electrical appliances in parks are maintained well and are safe.Asked why parks can’t be kept open beyond 10am as several Bengalureans who work in night shifts would be unable to use them early morning or in the evening, Palike officials said it’s because of security reasons.BBMP’s December 13 circular says officials must take precautions and ensure no live wires, borewell cables and panel board wires are left dangling in the parks.