Bengaluru: Commercial activities near Bannerghatta National Park banned

BENGALURU: Developmental and commercial activities have been stopped within 10-km radius of Bannerghatta National Park area, which is part of the eco-sensitive zone. Passing an interim order, the high court said it will be prospective in nature and not apply to activities already undertaken there.
A division bench headed by chief justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka passed the order after hearing a public interest litigation filed by Bannerghatta Nature Conservation Trust.
The bench also ordered notice to the state and central governments, KSPCB, BBMP and others.
The trust had sought for declaring the June 15, 2016, draft notification on the eco-sensitive zone around the park as the final one. The notification prescribed 269 sqkm around BNP as ESZ area, stretching from 100 meters up to 4.5km from the park boundary.
According to the petitioner, as the 2016 draft notification lapsed in 2018, another one was issued reducing ESZ area to 169 sqkm, varying from 100 meters to 1km around BNP. That had resulted in exclusion of ESZ villages near narrow parts of the park, the trust said.
Blaming the ministry of environment, forest and climate change for inaction and undue delay in the finalisation of the 2016 draft notification, the trust said taking advantage of the uncertainty, the park area saw a mushrooming of developmental activities such as bottling industries for drinking water, private residential layouts and asphalting of roads.
"The loss of green cover and increasing urbanisation and concretisation of Bengaluru pose a hazardous threat of creating urban islands not only in the city but also in villages and towns around BNP," the petitioner said, seeking the court's immediate intervention in the matter.