Green Murder : BDA Crucial Meet To Discuss PRR Project

Bengaluru: The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) for the first time will hold a public consultation on the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) on August 18. The 65 km eight lane road project connecting Tumkaru ring road and Hosur road (crossing Ballari and Old Madras road) has met with stiff opposition from the environmentalists and citizens as it will lead to the felling of 33,838 trees, including 9,304 trees in the T.G. Halli catchment area.

In the August 18 high-level meeting, officials of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) take part to discussions various aspects of the project which involves diversion of 10.117 hectares of the Jarakabande Reserve forest. The public consultations will be held at 'Nityostava' hall in Yelahanka and Samvesha Kendra at Doddaballapura road.

"The acquisition of such an area will change the landscape. In that, it will impact places of residence, loss of access to agriculture fields and plantations, loss of common properties such as temples, community halls and bore wells.

The removal of 33,838 trees and clearance of vegetation will cause disturbance in microclimate, habitat loss and disturbance of vegetation and sensitive plant communities," the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report revealed.

The proposed ring road connects major highways namely Tumkaru road (NH-4), Hesaraghatta Road (SH-39), Doddaballapura road (SH-39), Ballari road (NH-7), Hennur-Baglur road (SH-104), Hoskote-Anekal road (SH-35), Sarjapur and Hosur road. "BDA wants to put this plan in the public domain and wants the citizens and experts to come up with solutions where there is a scope for development but also can retain trees as far as possible.

We have also planned to plant nearly 40,000 trees on both the sides of the PRR and trying to save existing trees as much as possible. I would like to assure that there will be involvement of the public in planning and execution of developmental projects in Bengaluru," BDA commissioner H R Mahadev said.

In 2014, the environmental clearance for the project was earlier cleared by the Karnataka State Environmental Impact Assessment (KSEIAA). The National Green Tribunal had rejected the clearance report based on the submission made by the Horticulture and Forest department on the ground that over 16,685 trees will be felled. The NGT then subsequently had ordered the BDA in February 2019 to prepare a fresh Environment Impact Report (EIA).

While a fresh application was submitted to the SEIAA, the BDA had knocked the doors of the Supreme Court challenging the NGT. However, the apex court had upheld the order of the NGT and directed the BDA to prepare the fresh EIA studies.

Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar stated that the citizens need to be more engaged with the government and vice-versa. "I accept this proposition as an inviolable basic principle of governance. Bengaluru is the biggest hub of economic growth and as any big city of the world, our city also must deal with the growth and its side effects.

With the city's growing population, there will always be a situation. How do we tackle the problems of growth? It's time to move on from nostalgia of old Bengaluru. Citizens and government as stakeholders must focus on how we must work on inclusive development," he said.