BENGALURU, 10 FEB

Cubbon Park Walkers Association (CPWA) and environmentalists will protest at 11am on Sunday against State government’s proposal to construct an annex building of Karnataka High Court in Cubbon Park.

Salar News had on Saturday, 10 February, filed a story on State government’s move to construct the concrete structure inside the Cubbon Park.

In addition to Sunday’s protest, Heritage Beku, a pro-conservation group, has started an online petition to stop this construction and it has received almost 5,000 signatures from the public within the first day on Friday. This protest marks a resurgence of the 2019 movement, which successfully halted similar construction plans due to concerns about ecological damage.

Founder of Heritage Beku, Priya Chetty Rajagopal, told Salar News “This protest will yet again bring together the people of Bengaluru to save nature. Cubbon Park as we know is a nature’s abode for all the people in Bengaluru and this construction will hinder the natural balance of the ecosystem of the park.”

The 10-storey annex would eat into precious park space, increasing human and vehicular activity, and thereby disturbing the ecological balance. Permitting this construction could open the door for other builders to propose further modifications and constructions within the park, compromising its green character.

Also, “the vehicular traffic that was not allowed on the second and fourth Saturdays, will now be allowed. This decision was made without any prior notice from High Court and this may cause a problem for people visiting the park on these weekends,” Chetty said. —Salar News