After beginning its guided walking tour, Cubbon Walks, a week ago, the Horticulture Department has now halted private walking tours inside the Cubbon Park.
For years now, many private groups organised guided walks, including heritage walks, at the park. A recent government order specified the dos and don’ts of Cubbon Park that in order to conduct any activities that involve more than 20 people, prior permission should be taken. Authorities have now said that private walking tours inside the park will not be allowed for the time being.
“I received a call three days ago from the officials of the Horticulture Department asking me to cancel the heritage walk that was organised at the park during the weekend. They asked me to refund the money to those who had made the bookings and that I did not have permission to conduct the walk. I was also told to take down all the social media posts and blogs related to the heritage walks,” said Raksha Nagaraj, founder of Bengaluru Prayana.
We did not want to discourage the public from creating awareness about the history and flora and fauna of the Cubbon Park, however it should not be organised in the form of commercial programmes, the officials said.
