The garden city is in an uproar over the impending fate of its much cherished Cubbon Park. It’s not often that Bangaloreans are stirred by a cause. But the loss of a part of Cubbon Park, officially called the Chamarajendra Park, is surely a matter of grave concern even for its lackadaisical residents. Cubbon Park is a major landmark in Bangalore and not least because it provides much-needed lung space in a city increasingly under threat from air pollutants and advancing concrete colonies. Established by Sir Mark Cubbon in the last century, the garden used to spread across 300 acres, but nearly half of it has already been occupied by buildings and roads. Thought the Karnataka Garden Parks (Preservation) Act of 1975 makes it mandatory for the state government to preserve and maintain parks, Cubbon Park, compared to its greener cousin Lalbagh, has been long ignored. Today, thanks partly to its geography being the only garden without boundary walls and mainly to gross neglect by the administration, Cubbon Park has become synonymous with sleaze and a general lack of civic sense. Worse a public thoroughfare cuts across its tree-lined avenues, adding to the overall discomfort and contamination. The first threat to the Greenland came with the July 30 notification which effectively excluded around 17 acres from the park boundary. Of course, down the ages the park has lost huge chunks to the Vidhan Sabha, Raj Bhavan, and The Reserve Bank of India buildings and the State Youth Centre.
And, as if the latest addition to the concrete jungle, the VIP family suites being planned as part of the Legislators’ Home Annexe, is not enough there are fears that a vast tract of ‘virgin greenland’ in the LRDE premises, now housing a musical fountain, might be snatched away. Green activists in the city are convinced that the state government, as state governments elsewhere, will in the end surrender to the builders’ lobby. Cubbon Park has some rare species of trees and birds, much of which will be lost not just to the city but the country as a whole without some quick steps to check its rapid decline. The high-level advisory committee appointed by the state government to look into the matter is typically dragging its feet. But for once public opinion is on the march, with massive signature campaign, petitions, demonstrations, and even an international campaign with plans to launch a website exclusively for the cause. Rarely in recent times has such strong dismay been expressed in one voice. Writers, film stars, students, NGOs, almost everyone is agitated. Saving the park, “One of the most important lung spaces in the citing” as the Karnataka high court put it, has become a passion, as never before, for Bangaloreans. If only citizens in other parts would take a leaf out of Bangalore’s book. For Cubbon Park’s eventual fate will spell hope or further despair for the fast disappearing pockets of greenery in cities across the country which have fallen prey to greed and callous administration, from Calcutta’s shrinking maiden to Delhi’s endangered Ridge.
Q.1. What is unique about Bangalore’s Cubbon Park?
(1) It is the biggest park in the city
(2) It houses a lot of important buildings of the city
(3) It is a major landmark in Bangalore
(4) It provides a space for fresh air in an otherwise congested city
(5) None of these
Q.2. What makes it easier to encroach into Cubbon Park, compared to other places of greenery in the city?
(1) The law is more strict for other green places of the city compared to Cubbon Park
(2) Law providers are more lenient when it comes to encroaching into Cubbon Park, because it is at the heart of the city
(3) Cubbon Park does not have any boundary walls, the only garden of its type in the city
(4) The state government is consciously encroaching into Cubbon Park because Bangalore is at a green city and encroaching into only one park would not matter
(5) Both 2 and 3
Q.3. How will Cubbon Park’s ultimate fate influence the lives of other green spaces in larger cities in the country?
(1) After this strong bout of protests by the denizens of Bangalore towards the non-destruction of Cubbon Park, citizens in other cities where such parks exist and are under the threat of extinction can follow Bangalore’s example in voicing their protests
(2) A ruling by any court of law for the preservation of Cubbon Park will set off a precedent for other courts to follow suit, and thus such parks’ greenery would be saved
(3) The social activity/awareness generated due to Cubbon Park will prevent all other governments from any endeavour to destroy other areas of greenery
(4) Both 1 and 2
(5) Both 1 and 3
Q.4. How would a public thoroughfare cutting across Cubbon Park add to the overall discomfort and contamination?
(1) People travelling through the Park would destroy the peace of the place
(2) People walking along the thoroughfare would litter the place with both degradable and non degradable wastes
(3) Once human beings start walking along the place, even domestic animals will start making the place dirty
(4) Both 1 and 2
(5) Both 2 and 3
Q.5. Which of the following is NOT done/being planned by the citizens of Bangalore to save Cubbon Park?
(1) Signature campaigns
(2) Petitions
(3) Stage shows
(4) Demonstrations ]
(5) Launching a website exclusively for the cause
Q.6. The author does NOT say which of the following in the passage?
(1) An addition to the Legislators’ Home where the VIP family suites are planned has been the main issue in the Cubbon Park controversy
(2) Cubbon Park has been bereft of any wildlife activities, due to the recent encroachments
(3) Cubbon Park is currently in a state of utter neglect
(4) The state government is bound by law to preserve and maintain parks
(5) All of these
Q.7-8. Choose the word most similar in meaning to the word printed in bold, as used in the passage.
Q.7. impending
(1) Close (2) Late (3) Foreseen (4)Imminent (5) Careful
Q 8. callous
(1) Mindful (2) Apathetic (3) Sympathetic (4) Concerned (5) Negligible
Q.9-10. Choose the word which is most nearly the OPPOSITE in meaning as the word printed in bold as used in the passage.
Q 9. sleaze
(1) Immoral (2) Upright (3) Helpful (4) Careful (5) Cruel
Q 10. endangered
(1) In danger (2) Livening up (3) Abundant (4) Blissful (5) Large
Answer
Q.1.(3) Q.2.(3) Q.3.(1) Q.4.(5) Q.5.(3) Q.6.(2) Q.7.(4) Q.8.(2) Q.9.(2) Q.10.(2)
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MAHENDRA GURU