Bengaluru: A massive crowd, including senior citizens and children, walked through Lalbagh Sunday, opposing the proposed tunnel road and the recent amendment allowing up to 5% of park land to be diverted for other uses.Led by environmentalist AN Yellappa Reddy, the walk was joined by all four Bengaluru MPs, Jayanagar MLA CK Ramamurthy, and actors Sudha Belawadi, Samyukta Hornad and Pranita Subhash. Members of pro-Kannada organisations, RWAs and other outfits joined the march.CN Manjunath, Bangalore Rural MP, said: “The amendment is totally against the very purpose of Karnataka Parks (Preservation) Act. The governor should return the bill to the assembly. Bengaluru requires at least 30,000 acres of parks, but has only around 3,000 acres.”Bangalore North MP Shobha Karandlaje said the city needed more lung spaces. “But this is a real estate govt which sees money when it sees vacant spaces. We are not anti-development, but don’t touch our parks and lakes. There’s no discussion on development. Wherever there is a money-making opportunity, the govt thinks about that,” she said.Bangalore Central MP PC Mohan termed the amendment “draconian” and alleged that it had been passed without discussions. He claimed the amendment had been brought with the proposed tunnel project in mind. “This project has no scientific backing and is being done to benefit a company like Adani. Today it is 5%, it may increase to 25%,” he said.Surya slams govtBangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya said police had issued him a notice and threatened to file FIRs for assembling in Lalbagh, allegedly on the instructions of chief minister DK Shivakumar. Calling the move “shameful”, Surya said: “If asking for the protection of Lalbagh is a crime, I am ready to commit this crime every single day.”Surya put forward two demands — withdrawal of the amendment allowing up to 5% of park land to be used for infrastructure projects and dropping of the tunnel road project. He claimed 5,000-6,000 people had arrived in Lalbagh to oppose the tunnel road and protect the park.“Development does not mean snatching five acres of Lalbagh or 3.5 acres of Hebbal Lake,” he said, alleging that engineers were also conducting soil testing at MN Krishna Rao Park. “If this continues, Bengaluru’s parks will be converted to real estate sites,” he said.Songs, postcards and signaturesCitizens of all age groups marched from the West Gate to Lalbagh Rock, raising slogans against the amendment and the tunnel road project. Several participants lay on the rock and hugged it, signalling their commitment to protecting the landmark.On the rock, Surya led participants in a mass singing of a popular Rajkumar song from ‘Gandhadagudi,’ the Kannada film known for its celebration of Karnataka’s natural wealth. Carnatic vocalist Spoorthi Rao led a rendition of Vande Mataram followed by a medley of film songs.BV Sridhar Rao, a Lalbagh walker for over three decades, has been spearheading the campaign. “We received 3,000 postcards today, taking the total to over 4,000. We will intensify the campaign this week by reaching out to walkers entering through different gates, as people from different parts of the city use different gates,” he said.“Several people were moved to tears today. A mother’s eyes welled up as she reminisced about her childhood days at Lalbagh and feared that her children may not have the same experience. Many other senior citizens, some over 80, became nostalgic, recalling their memories of Lalbagh from five decades or more,” Rao said. He added that the campaign would include collecting signatures written in blood in the coming weeks.Participating in the march, activist Sajjan Raj Mehta said any damage to the city’s ecological heritage would be irreversible.“Infrastructure can be redesigned. Roads can be realigned. Buildings can be relocated. But once a city’s ecological heritage is destroyed, it cannot simply be rebuilt,” he said.General public and park users wrote postcards to the chief minister, urging him to drop the tunnel road project. Two large boards were also filled with signatures and messages from citizens calling for the protection of Lalbagh.
