Bengaluru: Denotification or another land grab?

Bengaluru: On Thursday, true-blue Bengalureans awoke to a new bombshell — the Cabinet’s decision to redraw the boundaries of Cubbon Park, the magnificent ‘lung space’ that even lent itself to Bengaluru’s moniker of the Garden City. The park, which was spread out over 192 acres in the heart of the city’s business district, will now be reduced to its original 100. For years, activists have fought against encroachment of Cubbon Park, which has taken place slowly but surely through time. Public interest litigations have been filed on a number of occasion to protect the park and the heritage structures it encompasses, but these have now amounted to nothing.

The government has, it appears, shown a marked absence of pride in one of the city’s greatest treasures. The damage has been done, but it’s up to Bengalureans now to make sure that what remains stays intact. 100 acres is relatively small in comparison with places like Hyde Park in London (625 acres) and New York’s Central Park, which is spread out over a whopping 1,700 acres.

“The denotification actually happened a year ago, but nothing much was said,” said Naresh Narasimhan, one of the city’s foremost architects. “It won’t make much of a difference practically speaking, because it simply means that all the structures within the park should now be maintained by the people who sit in them. All this time, it was the responsibility of the Horticulture Department.” A High Court ruling banned construction activities inside the park, thanks to activists filing litigations. However, the recent decision to renovate the Legislator’s Home, which is under the park’s ambit, seems to have spurred the decision. “The renovation couldn't be done, obviously, so the government has denotified all the buildings that are inside the park,” Narasimhan explained.

The Legislator’s Home: How much bigger will this get?

Another reason behind the denotifcation could also have been the longstanding plan to tear down the MS Building, which is also located inside the park. “That was one of the main interests of the government when Ramakrishna Hegde was Chief Minister,” said urban expert Ashwin Mahesh. “One part of this is the preservation of the park, of course, but the other is that government services don’t all need to be headquartered in Bengaluru. It’s far more convenient to move them to where they are actually required.”

Well known environmentalist Suresh Heblikar has his reservations about the renovations. “My main apprehension is the heritage value of the buildings,” said Heblikar. “Heritage buildings are supposed to be studied keeping in mind the materials and the architectural traditions that existed when they were built. None of the architects or MLAs in the city bother about these things anymore. They come from villages, all set to make some money and the city is in their hands. All plans for renovation must be brought before public scrutiny before they are carried out,” he added.

Have unduly rigid laws surrounding Cubbon Park hampered progress or useful construction work? Mohandas Pai, Chairman of the Karnataka Tourism Vision Group, said, “We need to grow with changing realities. There are too many restrictions on areas adjacent to Cubbon Park. What we need to do is ensure that the actual park land does not diminish. The built-up area can change.”

Karnataka Government Parks (Preservation) Act, 1975

Preservation of Parks:

1. It shall be the duty of the State Government to preserve and maintain as a Horticultural Garden the parks to which this Act is applicable and take such action as may be necessary to improve the utility of such parks as (and) such gardens.
2. No land or building within the parks to which this is applicable shall be alienated by way of sale, lease, gift, exchange, mortgage or otherwise, or no license for the use of such land or building shall be granted and any alienation of licence granted in contravention of this section shall be null and void.

Provided that the restriction under this sub-section on lease shall not apply in the case of buildings existing on date of coming into force of this act.