Karnataka Forest Minister Anand Singh heeded to requests by citizen groups, who asked that the meeting be postponed in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The contentious public hearing for the Bengaluru Peripheral Ring Road, which was set to be held on Tuesday by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) and the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), has been called off. The meeting was to take place at 11 am at Nityotsava Kalyana Mantapa in Singanayakanahalli, Doddaballapura Road. The cancellation was announced by state Forest Minister Anand Singh who heeded to requests by citizen groups like Citizens of Bengaluru and others on account of the COVID-19 pandemic. 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. The meeting was of interest to many, who were opposing the project as it would involve uprooting more than 30,000 trees, including in forest areas, according to the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report. Other than the high number of trees that would be felled, the project was slated to affect multiple water bodies including the Thippagondanahalli (TG Halli) Reservoir’s catchment area. The reservoir is a major water source for Bengaluru. The 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. Last week, CFB wrote a letter to authorities, asking them to postpone the meeting as it would be in contravention with COVID-19 restrictions as announced by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). There were requests by other citizen groups and NGOs seeking an online meeting instead of a physical meeting as it was slated to see a high number of attendees. However, there were others who were opposed to the idea as it would leave many who are technically challenged or those without access to technology, being excluded from the process. Many had called for the postponement of the meet as they felt that the infrastructure project was not a priority in times of a pandemic.
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