Concern Over New Building Plan In Bengaluru's Cubbon Park

Cubbon Park is one of the green lung spaces of the rapidly growing and very crowded city of Bengaluru. And citizens are protective of this space. A "Save Cubbon Park" movement back in 1998 helped avert the development of a club house for legislators that might have swallowed many acres of the park. After that, it became necessary to get Karnataka High Court clearance for any fresh construction in the park.

But now there is fresh concern over a building planned by the High Court itself. In 2014, the Registrar General of the High Court sought permission to demolish an older building in the park close to the Court and build a seven-storey annexe in its place. The court gave clearance for this in mid-October on condition that no trees would be cut.

Leo Saldanha of the Environment Support Group, which helped lead the 1998 movement, told NDTV, "The Annexe involves the tearing down of an existing structure (a heritage building) and replacing it with a massive structure. Clearly, a seven storied structure will massively increase footfall and vehicular movement, which in any case is rather heavy in the High Court complex, which is part of the park area. This has already disrupted the healthy growth of trees where parking is allowed, and also has disrupted the quiet and peace of this sylvan space. These are values that cannot be legislated and need to be culturally appreciated. Technically one can argue that there is no fresh ground broken and so there may not be a legal violation. But the issue here is not merely of technicalities, but of aesthetic and ecological character of the place. I have no doubt these will be heavily compromised. The resultant impact - increased footfall, vehicular use and the sheer mass of concrete piled up, will most certainly have a direct, irreversible, and adverse impact on the local ecology and aesthetics."

There is more paperwork involved and demolition and construction would not begin immediately. And there is still uncertainty. Muniyappa, ex-chairman of the Bar Council which currently operates out of the building told NDTV, "There is a prohibition in the Cubbon Park area about construction. We do not know what are the implications. The sanction plan has been given here to construct for seven floors. If it is a heritage building, it is against the law. But we will not vacate until they assure us two floors here or an alternative accommodation."

The group HeritageBeku - 'We Want Heritage' - is concerned over the potential loss of a heritage building. On Sunday, they will hold a series of events in the Park to highlight the importance of the area and to present their desire for the status quo to continue.

Priya Chetty Rajagopal of HeritageBeku told NDTV, "Everybody has special memories of Cubbon Park. We will be recording those memories with the #CubbonParkUlisi (Save Cubbon Park) initiative. We don't want to lose the essence of the park or this heritage building. We do have faith in the Court and think that this is just a blip."