A virtual public hearing for PRR on Sept 23, BDA mum on project details

The public hearing on the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) project will be held via video conference on September 23.

The 100-metre-wide eight-lane road is estimated to cost Rs 15,111.42 crore and will complete the other half of Nice Road. It requires the axing of 33,838 trees.

The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has scheduled the hearing on Zoom without making public the details of the land where the road will pass. The move has upset people who will be directly affected by the project as well as activists who are opposing the potential damage to the environment.

The previous public hearing, held on August 18 in violation of the forest minister’s instructions, was attended by about 50 people. Many of them demanded the detailed project report (DPR).

“They were showing a map which was totally different. I asked them for the DPR to get details of the land acquisition. They said my question will be recorded and addressed soon,” a person who attended the meeting said and described the hearing as an “eyewash”.

An activist involved with farmers’ struggle for fair compensation said the BDA was doing “great injustice” to landowners by offering to pay them as per the guidance value of 2006-07.

“For 15 years, farmers haven’t been able to use their own land as the BDA says it won’t compensate for infrastructure built after the notification. Farmers are demanding an early settlement of the issue or cancellation of the entire project,” she said.

The activist noted that many farmers won’t be able to attend the virtual meeting. “Even tech-savvy people like us struggle to participate in Zoom meetings. Expecting farmers to attend the meeting without giving any information on the alignment shows the BDA’s ignorance,” she added.

A BDA official said they would look into the matter of publicising the DPR.