Bhopal wants ‘park first, toilet later’

The Bhopal Municipal Corporation had to abandon toilet construction near the statue of Tulsidas, who wrote the Ramcharitmanas, in Tulsi Park following strong opposition from the people. Neeraj Santoshi reports.

Updated on: Oct 17, 2013, 01:11:16 IST

Hindustan Times | By Neeraj Santoshi, Bhopal

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An early application of PM hopeful Narendra Modi’s one-liner ‘toilets first, temples later’ has run aground in a Bhopal park named after 16th century poet Goswami Tulsidas.

The Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) has had to abandon toilet construction near the statue of Tulsidas, who wrote the Ramcharitmanas, in Tulsi Park following strong opposition from the people.

However, workers had already dug up the small triangular park to lay the foundation.“The government has so much land. Why inside the Tulsi Park?” said Pawan Kumar, a resident. “It is strange authorities allowed construction inside the park without considering that the park is meant for the local residents,” he wondered.

BMC engineers had a different take. “It is residents who have turned the park into a public urinal,” said BMC deputy chief engineer OP Bhardwaj on the phone.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neeraj Santoshi
Neeraj Santoshi is the Chief of Bureau for Hindustan Times in Uttarakhand, where he leads the state reporting team while covering government, politics, environment, wildlife, Uttarakhand High Court, and issues shaping the Himalayan region. With more than two decades in journalism across conflict zones, he has covered politically sensitive regions and environmentally fragile landscapes, and focused on stories that combine public interest with in-depth storytelling. An alumnus of Pune University with a Master’s in Communication Studies, he has reported extensively from Jammu & Kashmir (2003-2010), Madhya Pradesh (2010 to 2018 ) and Uttarakhand (Since 2018), covering subjects ranging from insurgency, elections and governance to wildlife conservation, mining, climate change, agriculture, human rights and social justice. He has covered politics and legislative assemblies of both Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh over more than a decade. Before taking over as Chief of Bureau in Uttarakhand, he served as Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times in Madhya Pradesh and earlier reported for both Hindustan Times and The Indian Express in Jammu & Kashmir, where he covered state politics, environment and insurgency-related developments. Over the years, his stories have focused on environmental degradation, wildlife, illegal mining, governance and the changing social fabric of Himalayan states and Central India. He is particularly interested in long-form explanatory journalism, and stories that explore the intersection of ecology, conservation, governance and society. Outside the newsroom, Neeraj enjoys reading widely on neuroscience, consciousness studies, Artificial Intelligence and quantum physics, with a special interest in Kashmiri Tantric Shaivist traditions. He is also passionate about wildlife, mountaineering and the Himalayas, interests that continue to inform his reporting and deepen his understanding of the region he covers.Read More

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