Mumbai, Sept. 3 -- Thousands of Bengaluru residents gathered at Lalbagh on Sunday to protest the Karnataka Parks (Preservation) (Amendment) Bill, 2026 and the proposed 17 km Hebbal-Silk Board Twin Tunnel Road Project, declaring it the start of a larger movement to protect city green spaces. Led by 91-year-old retired Indian Forest Service officer AN Yellappa Reddy, demonstrators marched from Lalbagh gates to the Lalbagh Rock, formed a human chain and hugged the rock while holding banners demanding conservation.
Protesters demanded that the proposed entry and exit ramps near Lalbagh be abandoned and opposed the provision allowing alienation of up to five per cent of parkland, calling for protection and expansion of urban green areas. Four Bengaluru members of parliament - Shobha Karandlaje, Dr CN Manjunath, PC Mohan and Tejasvi Surya - joined the demonstration and framed the legislation as inimical to the environment, urging a shift to sustainable mobility.
Manjunath advanced a policy focus on bicycle, metro and walking as alternatives to private car dependence and characterised air pollution as a public health hazard, while Karandlaje warned that a real estate-centric approach would imperil parks beyond Lalbagh and pressed for the amendment to be struck down. Mohan questioned the scientific basis for the tunnel project and Surya described the Lalbagh Rock as three billion years old protected geological entity and urged that the tunnel proposal be withdrawn in favour of prioritising sustainable public transport.
Reddy underscored the value of mature trees and sought to contrast their irreplaceability with rapid construction, offering Rs 10 million (Rs 10 mn) to challenge others to produce a comparable living asset and pointing out that a 300-storey building can be constructed in a few years whereas trees take decades to mature. Organisers presented the protest as an opening salvo in continued civic action to block the tunnel scheme and to safeguard the botanical legacy of the city.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Construction World.