Bengaluru: Not 200, over 33,000 trees to go for Peripheral Ring Road

After a year of “abject failure” to disclose the harm caused by the proposed Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) project, the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has now admitted that the construction of the eight-lane road requires the removal of 33,838 trees, of which 9,300 are in the Tippagondanahalli catchment area.

The 8-lane road of 65.5 km length will complete the remaining half of the Nice Road with 10.50-metre wide service roads. The project is estimated to cost Rs 15,111.42 crore.

Based on an erroneous Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Report, the BDA argued for about four years that only 200 trees would be cut for the project. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) rejected the report based on the submission by the Horticulture and Forest Department that about 16,685 trees need to be felled.

When the NGT directed for a fresh EIA, the BDA contested the same in the Supreme Court, which finally slammed the authority for “hiding significant components of the environment from scrutiny”.

Environmentalists say the sheer number of trees and the impact on environment as detailed in the fresh EIA report makes it clear that the BDA had lied to the public and even to the court. A whopping 33,838 trees falling within 100 metres’ width of the road are proposed to be removed. Many trees are in crucial catchment areas.

“About 13.65 km of the proposed alignment passes through the Thippagondanahalli Reservoir catchment area notification where Kumudavathy and Arkavathy river sub catchment exists... The project involves the removal of 9,304 trees in the catchment,” the report says.

As reported by DH last month, the BDA has already sought to divert 25 acres of forest land in Jarakabandekaval Reserved Forest for PRR. The PRR runs 1.49 km away from the Puttenahalli Bird Conservation Reserve and 7.9 km away from the Bannerghatta National Park boundary.

Six water bodies fall within the PRR alignment and the BDA has proposed to take the road along them on a flyover and has promised to maintain 30-metre buffer zone.

DH reached out to H R Mahadev, the recently appointed BDA Commissioner, seeking to know the reason behind the huge difference in the number of trees in the two EIA reports. “The alignment of the previous report and the present one is different. The places surveyed earlier and considered in the latest study are totally different,” he said.

Asked about the Forest Department’s figures of over 16,000 trees even for the previous alignment, Mahadev admitted that errors have been committed. “We will see what action can be taken,” he added. Regarding the change in alignment to drop 25 acres from Jarakabande forest, the commissioner said a meeting on the project will be held on Monday where all relevant issues will be
discussed.