Demolition of the wall of an iconic rock garden in progress for widening of the road in Punjab and Haryana High court site on Sunday in Chandigarh. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)Citizens of Chandigarh woke up on Sunday to shocking and distressing visuals of the demolition of a part of the world-famous Rock Garden, with a section of the wall in Phase 3 already damaged and a bulldozer working its way to clear more than 200 old and beautiful trees that were completely cut along the Rock Garden on Saturday night to pave way for road widening for the expansion of the parking at the Punjab and Haryana High Court.As the photographs circulated widely on social media, concerned citizens, activists, members of the Chandigarh Heritage Committee called for a demonstration in the afternoon at the Rock Garden near high court parking to register a protest and voice the concern: ‘Our heritage is under threat. We must act now.’ According to Amrita Singh, a designer and resident of Sector 28, who encouraged citizens to come together for the cause, the intent to stand here together was to resist and protect what makes our city unique.“Suddenly this area is unrecognisable without the magnificent trees that lined the wall. This is a huge cost to pay for so-called development. The city is known for its greenery, natural surroundings and the Rock Garden and we are systematically destroying it all. This is home, a place where we have grown up, and we cannot let this happen,” shared Singh, who runs regularly in this area. City residents protesting in front of the demolished wall of an iconic rock garden during a protest against demolition of the wall on Sunday.( Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)Senior advocate Mac Sarin, who has been raising constant concerns about how the city’s heritage being destroyed, wrote on X early morning, expressing how it is a sad day in the history of Chandigarh, apologising to the creator of the Rock Garden Nek Chand for the demolition of a part of his precious creation, and how the people of the city and the Chandigarh Administration have let him down, that too in his birth centenary year. “The world is converting concrete city centres into green areas to have a clean environment but here, we are doing the exact opposite. I am not here as a lawyer but as a citizen. This place is special in so many ways, all my three children got married here,” said Sarin, who also participated at the demonstration.For many regular walkers, who joined the demonstration, the loss of trees is a huge setback for the beauty of the space. A senior lawyer shared that this is notified forest land, and also there is a prohibition of demolition, with no environmental clearance for the cutting of the trees. “They want to cover the entire area up to the start of the Rose Garden into a parking lot. Who has given them the consent? The high court has not ordered it. When there was a plan to build a shed outside courts 2 to 9, the administration objected to it, citing how this was a heritage area, and now it has gone ahead with this. Get shuttle buses for lawyers, and people coming to the high court, improve the public transport, think of ways to decongest,” the lawyer said.Yojana Rawat, general secretary, M N Sharma Architectural Society, shared how Nek Chand and M N Sharma, the first chief architect of Chandigarh, worked closely for this city. “The need of the hour is to form a save Chandigarh society, that can take up issues of conservation and preservation of heritage of this city. Why can’t they make multi-level parking instead of destroying our precious symbols of the city,” added Rawat, an academician.Robin Nakai, a resident of Chandigarh and a friend of Nek Chand, also condemned the demolition. “My wife and I used to come to Rock Garden during our college days. This is where our love story started, and we got married. This is like watching our love story being demolished,” he said.Story continues below this adSamita Kaur added how noise and vehicular pollution are rising due to the thoughtless cutting of trees, which act as natural barriers to pollution. Justice S Sodhi added that he is shocked at the fact that the beautiful creation of Nek Chand is being bulldozed. “Chandigarh and Rock Garden are synonymous to each other,” he added. Paveela Bali, an environmentalist added that the Administration is in the hands of people who are not aware of the history of Chandigarh.Deepika Gandhi, architect and former director of the Le Corbusier Centre, added that this is a reflection of the growing insensitivity of decision-makers towards the very ethos of the city. “Chandigarh is at a major crossroads with the powers that be challenging its heritage status just for short-sighted goals. The citizens have to come together to save the city before irreparable damage is done.The fact is that Rock Garden does not come under any heritage regulations in terms of its growth and development. It comes under the General Zone 1 of heritage areas but there is no specific legislative protection of Rock Garden. Dr B N Goswamy kept pushing for this till the last meeting,” Gandhi said.© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:chandigarhrock garden