Civil society organisations have expressed shock and anger over an amendment to the Karnataka Urban Development Authority Act that will lead to shrinking of parks and playgrounds in new residential layouts in small towns of the state.
The Legislative Assembly on Monday passed the Karnataka Urban Development Authority (Amendment) Act that provides for reducing the space for parks and playgrounds in new layouts from 15% to 10% and civic amenity sites from 10% to 5%.
Although Bengaluru has been untouched, the organisations fear the same amendment will be brought in the laws that govern the city.
They see the amendment a precursor to “impending doom” in Bengaluru when the rules pertaining to layout formation in and around the city will be changed to favour developers.
The nonprofits have vowed to make the government see their point. The Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF) has requested Governor Vajubhai Vala not to clear the bill, while Save Bengaluru floated an online petition to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Urban Development Minister R Roshan Baig, highlighting the “flaws” in the bill.
In the letter to Vala, the NBF said, “It appears that a bill entitled Karnataka Urban Development Authorities (Amendment) Bill, 2016, was hastily tabled in the Assembly on 18 July, 2016, and declared passed without debate.”
The online petition on www.change.org says the bill was only to help land sharks and irresponsible builders, with zero benefit to the city or its people. Within hours of filing the e-petition, at least 4,000 people signed it.
The Bangalore Political Action Committee (BPAC) too condemned the “regressive” bill and appealed to civic groups, residents’ welfare associations and the public to get united to reject it, saying it will “adversely” impact the environment and quality of urban life.