A recently published Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report said that the project could involve uprooting 33,338 trees.
Representational image/PTI
With the draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the proposed Peripheral Ring Road in Bengaluru suggesting that it could involve uprooting more than 30,000 trees, a public hearing has been notified on August 18. Those opposed to the project can raise their objections and suggestions officially by taking part in the meeting. The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) said that it will hold the meeting at 11 am at Nityotsava Kalyana Mantapa in Singanayakanahalli, Doddaballapura Road. In the EIA report which became public recently, it said that a total of 33,838 trees need to be uprooted, in stark contrast to the claims made earlier by the Bangalore Development Authority, that only 200 trees would be felle, when the project was first proposed in 2005. The proposed project involves laying 65.5 km of an 8-lane road network between Tumakuru Road on the west and Hosur Road on the east via Ballari Road and Old Madras Road. This EIA was conducted after the Supreme Court had pulled up the BDA in March over its previous EIA, in which it was erroneously claimed that only 16,000-odd trees will be cut. TNM has earlier reported that among the 30,000-odd trees, 9,304 trees were falling in TG Halli catchment area and is thought to potentially affect the water resources and water quality in the Thippagondanahalli (TG Halli) Reservoir’s catchment area. The current draft EIA also reveals that the project will require 25 acres of forest land in Jarakabande Kavalu near Yelahanka for the project. Commenting on the issue, Vinod Jacob, a Bengaluru-based activist, said, “Even as a pandemic is underway and the legal fight is not complete, why the hurry behind all projects? The density of population does not help in a pandemic and again they want the same city to grow rather than spread development. Let the government focus on the health infrastructure first. How is the health going to improve if they cut all the trees?”
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