Bengaluru needs better infrastructure. But should it come at the cost of its parks? A new law proposed up to 5% of government parkland to be used for public infrastructure.
What can you do in 20 minutes? If you are in Bengaluru, it could take longer to cover just one kilometre in a car. It could take longer to get a cup of filter coffee. But that’s all the time it took the Karnataka legislature to introduce a law that could dismantle environmental protections for parks.
No floor debate. No public conversation. Just a fast-tracked amendment that gives executive committees a permanent key to carve up 5% of any state park. A metro station, a concrete building for the district administration, or a parking lot can be built here. “5%” sounds like a small, harmless number. But let's do the math.
Lalbagh spans roughly 240 acres. Five per cent of that is 12 acres. I am not saying this hasn’t been done before. Earlier governments have passed specific, project-by-project exceptions to take park land. But those were individual bypasses, debated on their own merits.
This new law creates a blanket, permanent key. For now, after much outrage, CM DK Shivakumar has taken a step back. Promising to ‘reconsider’ the amendment in the upcoming session. But make no mistake, this battle is far from over. The law is still on the books.
From ground zero at Lalbagh, I will tell you what is really at stake.
Let Me Explain.
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Produced by Megha Mukundan, script by Pooja Prasanna, Camera by Ajay R, Keshav, Megha Mukundan, Edit by Nikhil Sekhar ET.