Bengaluru students and residents joined park clean-up drives at Jakkuru, JP Nagar and Doddakallasandra on Saturday, highlighting growing citizen participation in maintaining the city’s shared public spaces.
The activities were organised under The Times of India’s #IamBengaluru – Volunteer for Parks initiative, presented by Multigen in association with Kristu Jayanti University and supported by the Greater Bengaluru Authority. The drives were held at Jakkuru Park, JP Nagar Mini Forest and Doddakallasandra Lake Park.
At Jakkuru Park, Jala Poshan led de-weeding and cleaning work, with more than 50 students from Kristu Jayanti University taking part. Students cleared unwanted vegetation and waste from the park surroundings as part of the volunteer activity.
In JP Nagar Mini Forest, which includes Bhagat Singh Park and Rajguru Park, Youth for Seva led clean-up work around the parks and conducted a plogging drive. YFS volunteers also organised plogging and de-weeding activities at Doddakallasandra Lake Park.
The participating parks serve as neighbourhood spaces for recreation, walking and community interaction. Volunteers said the condition of such spaces affects how residents use them, particularly children, young people and senior citizens.
Sunny Gabriel, a third-year life sciences student at Kristu Jayanti University, said a group of students came to Jakkuru Lake because maintaining healthy surroundings required effort. Arpita Priya, a third-year forensic science student, said Bengaluru’s rapid changes made it increasingly important for citizens to care for the environment around them.
Residents also connected the clean-up work to the city’s expansion. B Sreenadh, a software engineer and Nagawara resident, said he remembered Bengaluru’s parks as greener while growing up and that citizens needed to spend time protecting community parks. Jayashree, a JP Nagar resident, said clean parks supported walking, running and healthier lifestyles.
Other young volunteers described the activity as a way to understand the effort required to maintain public spaces. Ishan, a Class 10 student from Team Evara at NPS Rajajinagar, said he hoped such initiatives would help restore Bengaluru’s earlier green character. Tisha, a degree student at MESA College, said volunteering could encourage people not to take park maintenance for granted.
The initiative is continuing through volunteer registrations at iambengaluru.co.in, where citizens can discover upcoming opportunities to participate in park and public-space activities.
