Bengaluru: Karnataka Govt Plans High-Rise Building Inside Cubbon Park, Decision Stirs Row

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is planning to construct a multi-storey building in Bengaluru's Cubbon Park which will serve as the new office of the state Election Commission. 

The decision to construct seven to eight floor high-rise building is with the horticulture department which maintains Cubbon Park and several meeting are being held to reach the conclusion, claimed sources privy to the insights. 

The Karnataka government in 1975 drafted the Karnataka Government Park Act and no construction took place after that in Cubbon Park. The High Court, however, in 2019 had granted to go ahead with the construction inside Cubbon Park but without cutting any trees in the area

Government's Decision Stirs Row

Environmentalists and other residents of Bengaluru are staging protest against the proposal which will increase vehicular traffic in the park and increase the pollution levels. Some said that construction of the building will disturb the park ecology. 

The Cubbon Park Walkers Association staged protest inside the park on February 11 opposing the proposal of building construction. With #ChaloCubban hashtag, Bengaluru Residents Welfare Association tweeted, “#ChaloCubbon has just started we will protest every weekend until the proposal is permanently withdrawn.” 

Cubbon Park is a green space in the heart of Bengaluru which serve as the green spotlight in the busy city and on weekends, the vehicular movement is banned inside it.