Issuing Circular no 51, Municipal Commissioner Alapan Bandopadhyay has made it mandatory to get a clearance from the Parks and Gardens Department before constructing any permanent or temporary installation inside parks. The clearance is mandatory even for various departments of the KMC.

According to Member Mayor-in-Council Faiyaz Ahmed Khan: “On recommendations of local councillors, KMC permits construction of health centres, community halls and pay and use toilets inside parks. In many cases, gradually majority of the space is encroached.” Khan added that many structures have been built inside parks without informing the parks and gardens department.

The civic body has now fixed norms under the Landuse Development Comprehensive Plan (LUDCP) Act that classifies the parks into small (1,500 sq meters), medium (1,500 to 7,000 sq meters) and large (above 7,000 sq meters) categories.

Only 10 per cent of a small park, 5 per cent of a medium one and 3 per cent of a large park can be used for other purposes. “According to the norms, only one-third of a park can be covered and no structure higher than 4 meters can be erected inside it,” Khan said.