5%?Guardians, Not Liquidators: Protecting Bengaluru’s Ancestral Greenery

Today’s protest with hundreds of Bengaluru residents ranged on the Labagh Rock showed how passionately citizens feel about the contentious and retrograde 5% bill.

They want it rolled back.

As voices and hands rose, and people stood in a group, in a human chain and then lay on the rock, the single feeling was palpable.

Protect our space

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As guardians of Bengaluru’s living heritage, Heritage Beku stands alongside citizens at Lalbagh to express deep heartbreak and outrage over the Karnataka Government Parks (Preservation) Amendment Bill, 2026. Treating the sacred green sanctuaries of our Garden City as convenient real-estate buffers for concrete infrastructure—such as the proposed tunnel road—reflects an ill-thought-out, transactional mindset that fundamentally disrespects our city's soul. Lalbagh and Cubbon Park are not mere plots of empty land to be bartered off; they are irreplaceable historical ecosystems, microclimate buffers, and the very foundation of Bengaluru’s identity. Sacrificing even a fraction of these public treasures for short-sighted development compromises the future of generations to come. 

Allowing up to 5% of protected parkland to be alienated sets a retrograde precedent that dismantles decades of environmental stewardship. A healthy metropolis requires expanding green spaces, not slicing away the tiny 2 to 3% that remains. Nature cannot be negotiated in arbitrary percentages. Carving out parkland for heavy machinery, shafts, and concrete ramps risks irreversible damage to delicate ecosystems, centuries-old flora, and geological wonders like the 3.4-billion-year-old Peninsular Gneiss rock. Heritage Beku demands an immediate withdrawal of this amendment; true progress must build around our heritage, not erase it. 

5% Park Bill vs. Heritage Beku's Stance

A Slippery Precedent ("Not 5%, Not 1 Inch"): 

Framing 5% as a "minor compromise" is inherently deceptive. What starts as a 5% exception today for infrastructure legally opens the door for 10%, 20%, or further piecemeal encroachment tomorrow, stripping public parks of their permanent legal protection. 

Irreversible Ecological & Heritage Destruction: Lalbagh’s 3.4-billion-year-old Peninsular Gneiss hill, centuries of botanical legacy, and delicate hydrology cannot be "restored" once disrupted by heavy machinery and tunneling. You cannot substitute an ancient living canopy with temporary promises. 

Severe Microclimate and Health Consequences: Peer-reviewed urban studies show Bengaluru's parks keep surrounding neighborhoods over 2°C cooler, buffering the city against urban heat island effects. Slicing green spaces directly undermines public health, air quality, and climate resilience when the city needs it most. 

Transactional Short-Termism vs. Long-Term Vision: Reducing heritage parks to zero-cost land banks for roads and utility projects signals a total lack of urban imagination. Sustainable mobility must adapt around preserved natural heritage, rather than cannibalizing the very spaces that make Bengaluru liveable.

Violation of the Public Trust & Heritage Identity: The 1975 Act was created to safeguard public parks for the citizens. Pushing an amendment to clear legal hurdles for mega-projects without transparent public consultation betrays the social contract between the state and the people of the Garden City.

Heritage Beku demands a roll back. NOW.

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Alyia Krumbiegel , GH Krumbiegel’s descendant and a core member of Heritage Beku shares her concern reg the infra approach to Lalbagh

“Building underground tunnel roads in Bengaluru is a fundamentally flawed approach to urban mobility because adding road space inherently attracts more private vehicles, worsening congestion rather than solving it. Tunnels offer remarkably low passenger throughput compared to rail options, carrying only a fraction of the commuters that a single metro line moves, while exit ramps merely shift bottleneck traffic onto already gridlocked surface streets. Financially, deep-bore tunneling is exorbitantly expensive and relies on high tolls that restrict public infrastructure to affluent drivers. Environmentally, drilling through the city's granitic bedrock risks disrupting natural water tables and damaging critical green cover like Lalbagh for surface vents and ramps.

To create genuine, long-term transit relief, Bengaluru must prioritize high-capacity mass transit and demand management. Expanding the public bus fleet to over 15,000 vehicles with dedicated transit lanes offers immediate throughput at a fraction of the cost. Fast-tracking all four corridors of the suburban rail network alongside key metro lines will efficiently move regional commuters, while investing in continuous pedestrian infrastructure and first-mile feeders makes transit accessible. Paired with demand-side policy measures like congestion pricing, managed parking fees, and staggered work shifts, the city can flatten peak traffic demand and build a sustainable mobility ecosystem focused on moving people rather than private automobiles.”