HYDERABAD: Launching a strong protest against the clearance given to reduce the size of the walkway around KBR Park which is an Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ), 148 activists have shot off a letter to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). Dr Narasimha Reddy Donthi, a public intellectual, says citizens were not given a chance to put forth their objections.
“A public hearing that was mandated did not happen. There was no notification issued, as mandated, for public hearing and citizens of Hyderabad did not get any chance to put forth their contentions before the concerned officials,” says the letter.
The letter further cites the recent floods in October 2020 and how even the slightest of disruption in the environmental zone would be disastrous. “This Committee is not aware that because of KBR Park, surrounding areas have been protected from floods caused unprecedented rains in Hyderabad in October, 2020. Reduction of ESZ will take away even the fig leaf of this protection to Hyderabad,” stated the letter by the activists.
Express has previously reported that the new notification allows the walkway around the part to be reduced from the 35 metre ESZ to just 29.3 metre in some areas and 3 metre in some others to make way for the ambitious SRDP project planned with six flyovers.