Vehicles to be allowed in Bengaluru's Cubbon Park on 2nd and 4th Saturdays for 3 hours

Bengaluru: Vehicular movement will be allowed in Cubbon Park on the second and fourth Saturdays for three hours, from 7 pm to 10 pm, on a three-month trial basis. It has also been learnt that the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) is planning to set up air quality and noise pollution meters for regular checks to see if pollution levels drop.

The contentious decision was made at a meeting held by Karnataka Chief Secretary Shalini Rajaneesh on January 23, after extensive deliberation with stakeholders, including MLAs Rizwan Arshad and NA Haris, the Horticulture Department, the Cubbon Park Conservation Committee, the KSPCB, and the Bengaluru Traffic Police, among others.

Speaking to DH, Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad expressed a sentiment similar to that of Haris. He mentioned that although he was initially against the move, the Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) presented data showing that the traffic pile-up around the park is causing more pollution than if vehicles were allowed to pass through it.

“Right now, we are only opening up the road that goes from north to south, the rest of the roads will be closed and it is not going to affect public hours as vehicles are allowed only after 7 pm,” he remarked. He also confirmed that the KSPCB is planning to set up air quality and noise pollution meters for regular checks and see if the pollution levels drop.

Shanthinagar MLA NA Haris said that Cubbon Park is one of the few lung spaces in the city and as a Bengalurean he feels committed to conserving it. “I am not in favour of allowing traffic in Cubbon Park and I have expressed this in the meeting. However, the standstill traffic on Saturdays also contributes to pollution in the city. Keeping this in mind, we have agreed to open up Cubbon Park on alternate Saturdays for three hours on a trial basis,” he expressed. 

He emphasised that if the traffic situation does not change due to this decision, then the traffic regulations will be reverted to what they
were.

The Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), MN Anucheth, said that although the decision has been taken, the official order is expected to be released early next week.

However, Thanmaya Bekkalale, a resident of Vasanth Nagar and a frequent walker at Cubbon Park has a different point of view.

“When they built the metro, they told us that we’re building the metro to reduce the traffic in CBD. Now they’re saying, no, we need to allow traffic to Cubbon Park because there is traffic. What happened to the metro? What about the reason why we built the metro? Why did we spend thousands of crores and dug up roads for many years? That’s very conveniently forgotten. If you make it easier for people to bring their vehicles, they will bring them. If you make it difficult people will think about alternate solutions like public transport,” he said. 

Three hours is just not going to make any difference in terms of traffic, he added.