A tender was issued on May 13, 2025, inviting proposals from private entities to develop an amusement park project near the Krishnaraja Sagar under the public-private partnership model and to maintain it for 30 years.
| Photo Credit: file photo
The High Court of Karnataka has ordered issue of notice to the Centre and the State governments on a PIL petition questioning the legality of a proposal to develop a Disneyland-type amusement park near the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) in Mandya district at an estimated cost of ₹2,663 crore.
A vacation Division Bench, comprising Justice B.M. Shyam Prasad and Justice K.V. Aravind, passed the order on the petition filed by K. Boraiah and four other agriculturists from Krishnaraja Sagar of Srirangapatna taluk in Mandya district. The Bench has also ordered issue of notice to the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) and other authorities.
The petitioners have also questioned a tender issued on May 13, 2025, inviting proposals from private entities to develop the project under the public-private partnership model and to maintain it for 30 years.
Purpose of dam
The State government, ignoring the very object and purpose of construction of the KRS dam for irrigation, has ventured into a scheme to establish the amusement park for commercial exploitation of potential fertile agricultural lands at the cost of the taxpayer and detrimental to the interest of the farming community and agricultural activities, advocate M. Shivaprakash argued on behalf of the petitioners.
The petitioners have also complained that Cauvery Neeravari Nigama Limited, which is implementing the project under the title ‘development and operation/maintenance of proposed upgradation of Cauvery Brindavan Garden under KRS Dam’, has not sought permission from NDSA.
No public notice was issued seeking objections and suggestions from the public on the proposed amusement park project, even though it impacts the environment and dam safety, it has been complained in the petition.
Establishing commercial activity like an amusement park will attract 10,000 to 20,000 visitors everyday and the movement of vehicles would result in pollution causing irreparable damage to the agricultural land and ecosystem of the protected areas of the around 120-year-old dam, the petitioners have claimed.
Demand of farmers
The petitioners have alleged that the government is prepared to spend ₹2,663 crore public money for the park, while ignoring the decades-long demand of farmers of the catchment and river basin areas to upgrade the water canals and remove silt from the tanks to store water.
The petitioners have also pointed out that gram panchayats have already opposed the amusement park project when it was initially proposed back in 2018.
Published – May 21, 2025 07:17 pm IST
