BENGALURU: Thousands of Bengalureans gathered at Lalbagh on Sunday in protest against the Karnataka Parks (Preservation) (Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the proposed 17km Hebbal–Silk Board Twin Tunnel Road Project, declaring that it was only the beginning of a larger movement to protect the city’s green spaces.
Led by 91-year-old retired IFS officer AN Yellappa Reddy, citizens across age groups marched from the Lalbagh gates to the iconic Lalbagh Rock. They raised slogans, formed a human chain around the rock, hugged it holding banners reading ‘Save Lalbagh’.
They demanded that the proposed entry and exit ramps of the tunnel road project near Lalbagh be abandoned, opposed the provision allowing alienation of up to 5% of parkland and called for protection of the city’s green spaces.
Bengaluru MPs Shobha Karandlaje, Dr CN Manjunath, PC Mohan and Tejasvi Surya joined the protest. Calling the legislation “anti-environment”, Manjunath said, “Nature does not need humans, but humans need nature.”
Advocating sustainable mobility, he suggested the “BMW formula” – Bicycle, Metro and Walking – instead of dependence on private cars. “Air pollution is the new tobacco,” he said, adding that instead of allowing 5% of parkland to be alienated, the government should increase green spaces by 5%.
Karandlaje said the government was pursuing a real estate-centric approach and warned that the threat would not stay limited to Lalbagh. She demanded that the amendment be struck down.
Mohan described the legislation as “draconian” and questioned the scientific basis of the tunnel project, while Surya called the Lalbagh Rock a three-billion-year-old protected geological entity.
The protest, Surya said, was “just the beginning”, and demanded that the proposed tunnel road project be dropped and sustainable public transport be prioritised. “This hugging of the rock is a warning to the government to take its hands off it,” he said.
Yellappa Reddy issued an equally sharp warning. “I will give Rs 1 crore. Can you give me one tree?” he asked.
“A tree cannot be produced with Rs 1 crore in a day, a year or even 10 years. It takes decades to grow. But a 300-storey building can be constructed in a few years. Even a primary school child can understand the difference,” he said.