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Looking for a possible solution to a Town Planning Blunder
Written By psaram42 - 24 July, 2009
Traffic Bangalore parking Schools Action Others Everything else
The blunder happens to be in Indiranagar Bangalore. It has happened due to a lack of Planning in providing parking place for the National Public school in Indiranagar. It is a debatable point that it is whose responsibility to provide this parking place. It never the less is an eye sore for the residents of the locality of Indiranagar during most of the school working days. It also has a nuisance value to the residents of the NPS road apart from the traffic jams in the whole area.
Prof UR Rao the retired Chairman of ISRO is a prominent resident of 13 Main Indiranagar. SNS Murthy, a retired Police Commissioner of the city of Bangalore, also residing at 13th main Indiranagar, is an active member of Indiranagar Residents association. He has taken up the issue with NPS and the government of Karnataka for several years without any respite.
NPS was founded way back in 1962 or so in Rajajinagar 5th block by Mr. Gopalakrishna who had an Insurance agency. His wife was a teacher in Mount Carmel Rajajinagar. Gopalakrishna had a vision for primary school education, in Bangalore, added with a flair for business administration. The first NPS was built on a solid granite rock hill in Rajajinagar 5th block. Tell tale evidence of the big rock is still there to day. This was followed by a second NPS at Rajajinagar I block later and so on. To day there is a chain of NPS schools totaling to about 10?
Primary and secondary schools being the building blocks of future citizens of the world have an opportunity of bring up children with good civic sense in the rapid expanding world wide scenario.
National Public School, Indiranagar was established in 1982 under the chairmanship of Dr. K P Gopalkrishna. This Institution is affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the national body of the Government of India in Secondary Education.
The following is a considered solution for the tricky worsening problem of the day at NPS Indiranagar.
- Parking School teacher’s cars and school busses on the road is illegal. It is the schools responsibility to provide for this requirement. The reason for non compliance of the law is the in ability of the Government to enforce the law for obvious reasons.
- It is the schools responsibility to provide parking of the parent’s cars too. However the school has the right to charge a parking fee.
- Renewed Public Negotiations with Mr. Gopalakrishna to get the school to do (1 & 2) above.
Baldwin, Bishop Cotton, and St Josephs schools in central business district (CBD) area have solved the problem on similar lines as above.
COMMENTS
Hi-end schools do not practice what they preach to their kids
Vasanthkumar Mysoremath - 24 July, 2009 - 11:16
Principal and teachers of NPS must be teaching all good things to their wards about civic sense and duties and responsibilities of the citizens to the society we are all living in.
But when it comes to the question of practising what they preach, they appear to adopt convenient methods of bending the rules and the real meaning of civic sense.
How strong the school authorities are in weilding influence is depicted in the failure of Mr.SNS Murthy, a senior policeman himself in getting his grievance redressed. Disturbing the residents and robbing them of their peaceful existence does not augur well for the NPS and it would be a rightful act of civilisation if some plan of action is put in place to help the residents and the neighborhood that is suffering from influx of vehicles and people.
It is surprising that in such a limited road space, vehicles of the staff of the school are parked for such long hours thereby denying that much of space for other road users. This is unpordanable. The School authorities must find some alternate vacant space around the school - say like a vacant site, contact the owner, hire it, make it fit for parking and pay a monthly rental to the owner of the site as compensation or else admit that site owner's child to NPS without charging building fund.
- Vasanth Mysoremath
blrsri - 25 July, 2009 - 01:10
The schools need not look at altenate places to park outside the school itself!
Most or all of these schools, specifically the ones in the richmond road/residency road have big playgrounds..all that is needed is constructing 2-3 levels of underground parking..
They can then charge parking from the parents for sending swanky cars to pick up a todler from school..
The surface level can continue to be a playground!
Solutions for correcting the blunder
psaram42 - 25 July, 2009 - 05:08
Agree with the suggestion made by blrsri above. I am sure Mr. SNS Murthy must have gone through a similar exercise too. These are the two basic approaches:
- Provide in house parking
- Provide a traffic calming solution
Both the above approaches require mutual co operation from management and parents. The following approach may be in order:-
- Have the traffic calming solution immediately
- Go for in-house parking as a permanent and elegant solution
Having the basics clear as per the above thoughts, we come to the next issue of provision of funds.
- NPS should provide
- Public Funding
- NPS and Public share
Thus there is a need to negotiate with the NPS. There is a need for interested neighborhood residents to come together on Praja platform.
pathykv - 26 July, 2009 - 16:17
Another reason for such problems is that these 'public' schools admit children from far away places for obvious reasons without giving priority to the children within the closer households who can walk down.
As in other countries the concept of 'neighbourhood schools' should be enforced so that priority is given to children from the surrounding areas.
K.V.Pathy
Some Pictures of NPS Traffic and Staff Parking
psaram42 - 24 July, 2009 - 09:59
A set of three pictures showing 13 A main Indiranagar used for NPS satff vehicles:-
A set of another 3 at 13 th main ie The Students entry side NPS Road in Indiranagar:-
This set was taken at 12 noon the lunch hours on Friday the 24th July 2009. The heavy traffic is at 13 th main, Indiranagar which is the only access to the parents at lunch time. The Other road is reserved exclusively for the staff.
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