Karnataka govt to ban vehicular movement inside Cubbon Park in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Amidst protest from advocates, the State government is planning to ban movement and parking of all motorised vehicles within Cubbon park, sprawling in around 300 acres of land in the CBT of Bengaluru city.

The Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) has already made a recommendation to the government, not to open the roads inside the Cubbon park for vehicular movement.

For the last six months, vehicular movement was banned within Cubbon park due to Lockdown in the backdrop of COVID-19 outbreak.

At the same time, there were representations from citizens to ban vehicular movement inside Cubbon park, as four roads inside the park are being used as shortcuts by motorists.

After the lockdown was being slowly lifted, the DULT Commissioner V Manjula had written a letter to Horticulture and Sericulture Secretary Mr Rajendra Kataria, stating that there were some rethinking over opening of Cubbon Park for motor vehicle traffic. The pristine nature in the heart of the city needs to be preserved, as it is done in various cities across the world. The space could be best maintained for pedestrians and cyclists, she stated.

However, the Advocates' Association has strongly objected to banning vehicular movement inside Cubbon Park, as it would exert pressure on roads around the park. However, one of the reasons is that advocates use these roads most, as Karnataka High Court is situated just adjacent to the park and one of the roads is being used for parking their vehicles. .
Cubbon park has been in controversy for over a few years. While places like Vidhana Soudha, Karnataka High Court and other few establishments were denotified from purview of Cubbon Park, five roads inside the park are being used as short cuts by motorists.

The road leading from Hudson Circle to Vidhana Soudha is also being used as parking space for advocates as well as those coming to Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court on Nrupathunga road. The other roads being used by motorists include the road from Trinity Circle and Tennis Pavilion, Trinity Circle and Vidhana Soudha. The other two roads are from Vidhana Soudha to Kasturaba road and Kasturaba road to K R Circle.