Bengaluru: Say bye-bye to the old plain stone walls of Lalbagh Botanical Garden and welcome the painted canvas-like ones. Around 200 volunteers, including Siddhapura residents, horticulture department staff and India Rising Trust , an NGO that works with govt agencies to improve cleanliness and use of public places, have painted the 5km boundary walls of Lalbagh. This project aims to restore and transform the exterior walls of the heritage site , which dates back to 1760.
The facelift project , started in March, is being executed in three phases. The walls and footpaths were inspected by volunteers and BBMP. A few black spots and damaged footpaths were identified and worked on.
Sources said the process is still on as a few spots are yet to be sanitised, but 95% of the area has been made clean and walkable. Kusuma G, deputy director of horticulture department, Lalbagh Botanical Garden, told TOI, “Apart from painting, 300 diamond shapes are embossed on these green walls at every 20 feet, which are further painted with fauna inside Lalbagh and the rest are nameplates in Kannada in English. We wanted to elevate the beauty of the famous garden and show what’s inside the garden.
Shamla Iqbal, secretary and M Jagadeesh, joint director of our department, supported the initiative.” She added, “We gave the locals brushes and motivated them to come and paint. After a week, the residents themselves got the paint and started painting.
” Arun Pai, coordinator of India Rising Trust, shared, “Lalbagh is one of the world’s oldest and largest botanical gardens with incredible plant wealth. Sadly, the entrance areas and the entire perimeter were in a terrible mess. We approached the horticulture department with a plan to restore it.
Not only did the officers respond positively, they also showed interest by working with volunteer teams...
” He said, “Rather than defacing the wall, passersby (now) stop to look at the images and take selfies...
The transformation to a public image gallery feels good.”.
