Expert panel clears Satellite Town Ring Road with conditions

The second phase of the Satellite Town Ring Road (STRR) that passes through the Bannerghatta National Park will get environmental clearance.

An expert committee under the Union environmental ministry has recommended the project with the condition that clearance from the wildlife authority was mandatory.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has recommended the project to help interstate vehicles bypass the city traffic snarls. The STRR will connect Dobbspet, Doddaballapur, Devanahalli, Hoskote, Anekal, Ramanagara and Magadi.

The clearance comes four months after the state wildlife board under Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s chairmanship rejected the proposal to build a flyover inside Bannerghatta.

After members pointed out that allowing a road to be constructed inside the core forest area will set a bad precedence, the chief minister asked the NHAI to come up with an alternative alignment skirting the forest.

The Expert Appraisal Committee considered Phase II of the project stretching from Ramanagar to Peddamadhagondapalli in Tamil Nadu.

Noting that four kilometres of the road passes through the ecologically sensitive zone of the Bannerghatta National Park, the committee recommended a 10-metre high flyover for the whole stretch.

The park is home to leopards and a tiger, besides being an elephant corridor.

“The existing tar road will be decommissioned and should be surrendered to the forest department and shall be maintained as an earthen road for the movement of forest department vehicles and local population staying along this stretch,” the committee said.

The NHAI has also been asked to get clearance from the National Board for Wildlife. “The state forest department, if it feels necessary for management purposes, can develop some points on the elevated road as animal watch points/towers,” the panel said, adding that the NHAI should bear the cost.

The committee noted that the project is crossing the Suvarnamukhi river and three ponds and directed the NHAI to maintain the natural drainage systems. The authorities have also been told not to fell trees supporting birds and wildlife. The panel laid additional conditions to ensure the road’s construction does not disturb the wildlife.