Horticulture Dept. giving its all for better upkeep of Public Gardens

Officials tight-lipped over damage likely to be caused by State Formation Day event

Ahead of conducting the State Formation Day celebrations on June 2 at Public Gardens as decided by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao recently, the Horticulture Department, which maintains the Nizam-era public space, has been planning to send proposals to the government on the need for funds for better maintenance.

Principal Secretary (Agriculture) C. Parthasarathi visited the Public Gardens along with Commissioner of Horticulture L. Venkatrami Reddy and other officials on Tuesday to oversee the arrangements being made for Formation Day celebrations.

He was informed that about 15,000 to 20,000 walkers and about 5,000 to 6,000 tourists visit the public space and efforts were being put in by the Horticulture Department for maintaining greenery there. He directed the department officials to prepare proposals regarding the problems they face in the maintenance of the public space, on lack of funds for its better upkeep, lack of supervision on the entry of visitors and the need to install closed circuit cameras to prevent the entry of rogues and eve-teasers so that a report could be submitted to the government. Meanwhile, officials of the Horticulture Department were tight-lipped on the damage likely to be caused to the central lawn and the rose garden owing to the conduct of the main event of State Formation Day on June 2. Though the Finance Department hosts dinner for the legislators at the end of the budget session on the lawn, the footfalls are limited to about 500 guests on such occasions.

Developed originally as Bagh-e-Aam or public park by the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1846 in about 54 acres of land with seven acres occupied by water bodies (ponds), the use of land at the public park for other purposes has shrunk its size drastically over the years. Initially, over 30 acres of land was given to the Indian Railways in 1875 and in the early 1920s, several water bodies were filled with sand to reclaim the space for construction of the Jubilee Hall.

Later, several landmark buildings such as the State Legislative Assembly, Archaeology Museum, Jawahar Bal Bhavan, Indira Priyadarshini Auditorium, Laithakala Thoranam, Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University and others were also constructed on the land originally meant for Bagh-e-Aam.

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