Mysuru: The Vishwamanava Park near Gun House in the heart of the city is turning into an eyesore due to non-maintenance of the park and the public have urged the civic authorities to take steps to maintain the Park at the earliest before it turns from bad to worst.

Overall, good maintenance plays a vital role in park safety. The presence of graffiti, litter, vandalism, poorly maintained paths or planting are contributing to a perception of lack of safety too. They suggest that the park is uncared and has minimal supervision. 

If ignored, vicious cycle of abuse is likely to occur in which legitimate users start to avoid the park as physical conditions deteriorate. The result is that the park can be taken over by inappropriate users and uses.

As the park is located close to the world famous Mysore Palace, a lot of tourists including foreigners frequent the road taking back bad memories with them about Mysuru which had won the Cleanest City in India tag twice.

If one takes a stroll inside the park, the sight of empty liquor sachets, plastic glasses, plates, leftover food, heaps of dry leaves, uneven walking paths, stray cattle and half-eaten plants makes the visitors to the park not to come again. With no security guards at the park, it has become a haven for illegal activities especially after dark.

Vishvamanava Park was handed over to the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) for development, which has installed the statue of Rashtrakavi Kuvempu at a cost of about Rs.25 lakh. This apart, the park has not seen any development or beautification.

Later, Raman Boards took over the maintenance of the park for a few years and had deployed security guards and workers for its maintenance. After Raman Boards, no one has come forward to take up the maintenance of the park. Neither the MUDA is maintaining the park nor has it transferred the park back to Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) resulting in the park being neglected.

At present, the public are the protectors of the park from stray cattle and from those indulging in illegal activities inside the park. Corporator B.V. Manjunath and his friends got the gate of the park repaired and had put a lock to it. But miscreants have broke open the lock and threw open the gates resulting in a stray cow falling into the water tank inside the park and suffering. 

The public rescued the cow from the water tank. Now, the Corporator has put another lock to the gate and BJP activists celebrate the birthdays in the park by undertaking cleaning of the park and planting saplings.

The public have urged the MCC authorities to deploy security guards and workers and also undertake beautification and maintenance of the park named after Rashtrakavi Kuvempu.