From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore

Bangalore, Nov 9: Thanks to the vehement protests by the nature lovers and the Lalbagh Botanical Garden Morning Walkers’ Association, the State Horticulture Department has decided to constitute a three member expert panel to study the viability of construction of a car parking zone inside the Lalbagh.

The expert panel comprising a leading environmentalist would study the advisability and utility of constructing the car parking inside the historical Lalbagh, Karnataka’s Horticulture Minister S A Ravindranath said on Thursday.

The minister said the three-member panel would also examine the consequences of having the car parking zone inside the Lalbagh on the environment.

The three members will comprise an environmentalist, a botanist and a representative of the Geological Survey of India (GSI).

Meanwhile, the State Government has already directed the Department to ensure that the construction of the parking zone was stopped forthwith following protests by nature lovers and morning walkers at the Lalbagh, he said.

The department had decided to construct the parking zone at a cost of Rs 80 lakh inside the Lalbagh on account of the protests by environmentalists as well as the regular morning walkers inside the botanical garden.

The Morning Walkers Association has been staging protests for the last few days opposing the construction work.

Work had already commenced and bylanes and pavements were created and construction material was dumped in the area.

The minister said the work would be resumed only after getting clearance from the expert committee.

Officials maintained that barely 5 acres out of the total 240 acres of Lalbagh was being utilised for car parking lot.

The Association, however, claimed that the parking zone would reduce the garden space.
Construction of car parking zone would turn Lalbagh into another Cubbon Park, where vehicle movement has been allowed, the protestors alleged.

Apart from the general public, senior government officials and retired persons are among the regular users of the Lalbagh for their morning walks.

But a section of the public and influential people have been pressing the authorities to allow parking space inside the parking space itself in view of the non-availability of parking space around the botanical garden.