Bannerghatta National Park's Buffer Zone in Karnataka Reduced by 100 sq kms

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posted on 4 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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The central government has published notification reducing the area from 100 meters to 1 kilometer around the national park in Bengaluru and Ramanagara districts as eco-sensitive zone (ECZ). This was earlier 100 meters to 4.5 kilometers.

Bengaluru: Amidst ongoing protests by environmentalists to retain the existing eco-sensitive zone of the Bannerghatta National Park in Bengaluru, the Centre has accepted Karnataka government's suggestion to reduce the ECZ.

The area of the ECZ is currently 168.84 square kilometres, according to the latest notification, from the earlier 268.96 square kilometres, reducing the buffer zone by a 100 square kilometres.

In February, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had written to the Centre to reduce the buffer zone around the park by 100 Sq km stating that the 269 sq km buffer zone was impeding ' many development works'. Although the center had asked the state to reconsider its demand, the state stuck to reducing the buffer zone.

Following opposition from different quarters, Karnataka Forest Minister Anand Singh had said that he would request the Chief Minister to retain the buffer zone as it is. BJP Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrashekar on Wednesday wrote to Yediyurappa demanding the same.

"BNP, with its 260 km large protected forest, serves as a catchment area for water bodies that feed the River Cauvery. No other big Indian city has such an enormous forest region which is rich in biodiversity, so close to urban limits. The shrinking of the ESZ zone will cause great damage to the wildlife and the flora in the said regions aggravating the man-animal conflict. The ESZ reduction was first mooted by the previous government and I along with several public representatives had opposed it. But this decision now comes as a shock to all of us," he wrote.

In 2016, it was three BJP MPs who had supported retaining the 269q km buffer zone, when they were in opposition in the state.

The decision has also angered environmentalists.

"Bangalore's lung space has been reduced. This notification will only benefit the quarry operators, real estate sector/developers. Both these activities will impact the flora and fauna in the national park," said environmentalal activist Joseph Hoover.