Activists from Greenpeace India and several citizen collectives took to the streets Wednesday to launch ‘Bengaluru Rising’, a campaign timed for April 1 to highlight the “absurdity” of the city’s urban development.

The protesters dubbed nine major, overdue road projects “stupid projects’, defined as infrastructure marked by massive delays, outrageous cost escalations, and a failure to solve the very traffic problems they set out to address.

Drawing inspiration from Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, activists plastered incomplete flyover pillars with ‘Scream’-themed caricatures. The posters carried pointed questions: “Is this development?”, “Rs 72 crore for this?”, and “Is this the future of youth?”

The campaign targeted several stalled projects, including the Rajarajeshwari Nagar arch flyover, the Ejipura flyover, the Jalahalli grade separator, and the Dommasandra flyover.

“‘Stupid projects, quite simply put, are those where there are massive delays disrupting people’s lives; where costs have escalated outrageously, and the projects remain incomplete, or they fail to solve the very problem that they were designed for,” said Amruta S N, climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace India.

“In the lead-up to the elections, we are calling on all candidates to engage with these concerns and not allow Bangalore to be turned into a global stupidity,” added Amruta.

The protest also highlighted the political friction stalling the city’s growth. Eight of the stalled projects fall within the R R Nagar Assembly segment, represented by Munirathna Naidu of the BJP. Naidu and Bengaluru Urban Development Minister D K Shivakumar have frequently traded barbs since 2023, with Naidu alleging that political rivalry has led to a deliberate squeeze on grants for his constituency.

The campaign extended beyond flyovers to the Mysore Lamps factory site, where a proposed convention centre threatens a dense, forest-like canopy.

Kausatubh Rau of Malleswaram Social argued that the city must prioritise “green-blue” networks over concrete. “Turning this into a convention centre serves only a narrow section of society while worsening urban heat and pollution,” Rau said, urging the government to create an inclusive public green space instead.