‘Lalbagh is not a pizza’: Bengaluru residents rally against 5% park land rule

Hundreds of Bengaluru residents gathered at the iconic Lalbagh Sunday to protest a recent amendment to the Karnataka Government Parks (Preservation) Act, which allows the use of 5 per cent of the city's protected park land for public utilities.

They gathered to join the campaign “Walk in Lalbagh. Walk for Lalbagh”, demanding protection for the city's few open spaces. The protest follows the Karnataka Assembly's passage of the Karnataka Government Parks (Preservation) (Amendment) Bill, 2026.

Under the Bill, the government can use 12 acres of Lal Bagh and 15 acres of Cubbon Park for public infrastructure. “We are for development but not against the cost of iconic spaces of the city. Lalbagh is not a pizza to cut into slices.

Our demand is to protect these parks from real estate and withdraw the tunnel project. We will not stop till then. If saving Lalbagh and other parks is a crime, we will do this crime every day,” Bengaluru South BJP MP Tejasvi Surya said while speaking to reporters.

A N Yellappa Reddy, 90, a former government secretary for ecology and environment and activist, also participated in the campaign. Reddy recently wrote to Karnataka Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh expressing his concerns over the Bill.

“Five per cent itself requires an explanation. Who arrived at this figure? Was it recommended by horticulturists, ecologists, planners, or any independent expert body? Is there a scientific study showing that 5 per cent of an established park can be disturbed without affecting its ecological character?” Reddy wrote in the letter.

Bengaluru has around 1,353 parks, with the 240-acre Lalbagh Botanical Garden and the 197-acre Cubbon Park. The Karnataka Government Parks (Preservation) (Amendment) Act, 2026, allows the state “to alienate park land by way of sale, lease, gift, exchange, mortgage, or otherwise, up to an absolute limit of 5 per cent of the total area”.

While the government has said the law applies only to public utility projects undertaken by government departments, statutory authorities, government companies or local authorities, critics fear it could pave the way for real estate development and infrastructure projects, including roads through parks.