Overview
- The Cabinet formally decided on Thursday to withdraw the Karnataka Government Parks (Preservation) (Amendment) Bill and inform the Governor, and it said the text will be placed in the public domain for consultation before any return to the House.
- The draft amendment would have allowed up to 5% of a protected park’s area to be alienated by sale, lease, gift, exchange, mortgage, or similar means for government or public-utility projects under a high-level committee’s recommendation.
- Civic groups, resident associations and opposition leaders staged large protests at Lalbagh and other city parks and gathered more than 25,000 petition signatures, saying the measure could enable use of park land for the proposed 16–17 km Hebbal–Silk Board tunnel that sources say may need about six acres temporarily and one acre permanently from Lalbagh.
- The chief minister has denied plans to tunnel through Lalbagh and said alternate alignments will be examined; the government says the withdrawal aims to respect public sentiment and to explain safeguards, while it plans to rework clauses on sale, lease and other transfer forms.
- The episode has widened political controversy because the Bill was passed without debate, critics have linked its timing to reported meetings with business figures that remain unconfirmed, and officials note the 1975 Act has previously been changed only for specific projects rather than by a blanket provision.