At 8.30 a.m. on Monday, citizens donning masks stood in front of the locked gates of Cubbon Park holding up posters that read “No Traffic in Cubbon Park” and “No Traffic Please”.
The protesters stood there till around 10.30 a.m. and dispersed only after it was clear that the gates of Cubbon Park would not be opened to vehicular movement just yet. They, however, symbolically tied a silk cloth around the lock on the gate.
Vehicular movement inside the park was to be allowed from Monday after the State government, on recommendation of the Bengaluru Traffic Police, had directed the Department of Horticulture to do so. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and imposition of lockdown, the gates of Cubbon Park have remained closed since March 24.
While Rajender Kataria, Secretary of Departments of Agriculture, Horticulture and Sericulture, told The Hindu that a circular allowing vehicular movement had been issued on Friday last, Joint Commissioner of Horticulture (Parks and Gardens) M. Jagadish claimed that his officer had not received any direction or order from the government on allowing vehicular movement inside Cubbon Park.
Mr. Kataria said that the Horticulture Minister Narayana Gowda had also recommended complete ban on parking and vehicular movement within the park. “The department will take a call on allowing vehicular movement based on the government’s decision to the proposal,” he said.
Citizens’ groups have for long been seeking a complete ban on vehicular movement inside the park. Priya Chetty Rajagopal from Heritage Beku said around 30 people had gathered outside the locked gates on Monday morning. “We followed the rules and maintained social distance. We expressed our opposition quietly, but firmly and hope that the government acknowledges our genuine concern for protecting the city’s lung space,” she said.
She said she had written to Chief Secretary T.M. Vijay Bhaskar, Mr. Kataria, Mr. Jagadish and even Mayor M. Goutham Kumar and to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner. “We have got 15 experts who have all favoured a ban on vehicular movement,” she added.