HYDERABAD: If it was not for the pressure created by citizens on Telangana government through different ways like protests, campaigning and approaching National Green Tribunal there might have been no walkway around the national park that is now used by thousands of people on a daily basis to stay fit.
Taking a cue from Guindy National Park in Chennai, Telangana government had at one time even decided to decrease the Eco Sensitive Zone (ESZ) of KBR national park to ‘zero’ metres. This means the entire walkway could have been taken over for the Strategic Road Development Plan. However, it seems public pressure forced the government to change the plan, slightly.
According to the new notification, demarcation of the eco-sensitive zone will vary at a whopping 150 points around the national park with the width ranging anywhere between 3 metres (near Film Nagar junction) to 29.8 metres (at Maharaja Agrasen Chowk junction). On the face of it, this is a drastic violation of the norms prescribed by the Supreme Court.
Importance of ESZ
As per rules, protected areas like national parks or sanctuaries should have an ESZ around it, to act like ‘shock absorber’ for the forest and its wildlife. Inside ESZ, activities like tourism, infrastructure development, felling of trees etc are regulated and mining, establishing industries, discharge of effluents etc are prohibited.
While Supreme Court in 2006 had ordered that ESZ will by default be 10 kilometres for any protected area that does not have a finalised ESZ, over the years ESZ of many sanctuaries and national parks have been decreased drastically due to urbanisation around forests.
Environmentalists, nature lovers and walkers of KBR National Park are waiting for the new draft notification to be published so that they can send their feedback and opposition to the union environment ministry. Kajal Maheshwari, co-founder of a citizen movement called Hyderabad Rising, said: “We plan to start a very active campaign on the ground by visiting schools, colleges to encourage people to write to the Ministry on the new ESZ.”
Why SRDP?
As per Telangana government, traffic volume in the six junctions around KBR National Park will increase from 2.5 lakh vehicles per day in 2015 to 5.5 lakh in 2035 resulting in the pollution load of 456.19 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide equivalent per day. If the SRDP project is completed, the pollution load is estimated to come down to 126.01 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide equivalent per day which amounts to a decrease of 72.38 per cent.