BENGALURU: Citizens’ battle to save Bannerghatta National Park (BNP) from miners and realtors received a jolt, with the Centre recommending a 100 sq km reduction in the Eco Sensitive Zone (ESZ).
Bengaluru residents and environmental groups say this is unbelievable, as more than 50,000 public objections were sent to the Ministry of Environment and Forests. With this recommendation, the extent of the ESZ is now a mere 0.1-1 km away from the boundary of the park. The earlier draft notification had proposed 268 sq km, but, with the Siddaramaiah government bowing down to political pressure, the area was reduced to 168.84 sq km.
Activists say this is the last remaining lung space in Bengaluru, and any reduction on the northern side of BNP will give rise to industrial and commercial activities. “As it is, the ESZ area has been ruined by illegal mining for three decades, with forest and mining officials turning a blind eye to it. When 50K public objections were filed, how could the committee ignore it?” they ask.
Vijay Nishanth, urban conservationist, told TNIE, “The only way out now is to take the legal route. The ESZ cannot be less than one km for any protected area as per a SC ruling. The city authorities, hand-in-glove with builders, has allowed building activities almost till Kanakpura Road. Now, to save these builders, the state government has reduced the ESZ.”
However, the expert committee on ESZ has claimed, “The comments received from stakeholders and the public were discussed in the meeting. Experts even requested extending the area of proposed ESZ towards Bengaluru city, however, the state representative APCCF (Wildlife), S K Malkhede, said it would be difficult to further expand the ESZ due to thick human habitation in adjoining areas of BNP.”
Meanwhile, senior forest officials claimed that ESZ reduction will have no adverse affect on the protected area, as all mining activities are prohibited one km from BNP. However, there will be human activity in this zone.
As per the draft proposal accepted by the Centre, it excludes 16 forest enclosure villages. Out of 77 villages included, 61 have an extent of one km, while the remaining 16 have an extent of only 100 metres. These include four villages in Bengaluru south, three in Anekal and nine in Kanakpura. In the next three to four months, the final notification is expected to be issued by the Centre.