New fight led by old hands

New fight led by old hands

PK Surendran. Bangalore



Bangalore has got an old ally back in its fight to protect Cubbon Park. The Save Cubbon Park campaign, a mass solidarity action forum, that kicked up a row in 1999 over the move to grab the park lands is being revived to save the heritage park.
Sanmathi, the first all-women network, Hasiru Usiru (Greenery is Life), a conglomeration of various city-based community organisations, MG Kumar, the lawyer who has been steadfastly fighting legal battles against the illegal grabbing of Cubbon Park land, and businessman-activist Bimal Desai will mobilise the support of students and educational institutions this time.
"After the Metro rail is done with Cubbon Park there will not be any greenery left to be seen in the north-east part of the park," said environmental activist TS John.
"Already several institutions entrenched in Cubbon Park have filed applications with the high court demanding more space for expansion. The way things are going, it is only a matter of time before they are granted. When it happens, several thousand square metres of land and its flora will be lost forever and vehicle population will increase in the already squeezed lung space. If it is not prevented nothing will be left of it," said Kumar.