Bengaluru: When protection rollbacks endanger forest

A reduced buffer zone is already threatening the forest. Is it wise to build flyovers through it and an airport close to it?

Bengaluru: In 2016, Sidda, an injured elephant, died near Manchanabele dam in the southwest outskirts of Bengaluru, after a sepsis in its feet and a prolonged battle for its life. The painful death drew attention from people and wildlife enthusiasts.

Kiran Urs, a wildlife enthusiast, began probing the reason for the pachyderm straying near the dam. “Once upon a time, elephants used to travel from the Bannerghatta area towards Jnanabharati. They would play in the Vrushabhavati water and move towards Savandurga. Today, all the routes have been blocked with layouts and constructions, leaving no corridor for elephants,” he explains.

He started focusing on the Bannerghatta National Park (BNP) area. This forest area is the most neglected and suffering forest in Karnataka. Being close to Bengaluru is its biggest curse. Resorts and farmhouses mushroomed, with encroachment often taking a toll on the forest land,” he rues.

A home for tigers

Though the BNP area is mainly known as a home to elephants, tigers also inhabit the park. A 2024 study published in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society found that tiger presence was detected through pug marks in the National Park area since 2009, and became more frequent after 2015. Researchers set up camera traps and documented the tiger’s presence.

The study identified the animal as a young male tiger with the potential to establish a home range within BNP. With movements concentrated in BNP’s northern region, the tiger moved beyond protected area limits. Another aim of the study was to “document baseline behaviours that could assist in protecting the tiger, particularly in relation to its proximity to human habitation and the occurrence of domestic kills,” the study says.

Even forest department officials say there are two tigers in the park, documented through camera traps. 

“I have seen it in 2024. The animal strayed from the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary and came to the Bannerghatta area. It means the BNP area is capable of housing the tiger and needs the highest level of protection,” Urs adds.

The flipflop

The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) was trying to do the same when it notified eco-sensitive zones around BNP, totalling about 268 sq sqkm, with a range of 100 metres to 4.5 kms, covering 77 villages and 17 hamlets. 

However, the MoEF took a step back in March 2020 by reducing the eco-sensitive zone to an extent of 100 metres to 1 km.

After trying to find the reason behind the change, Kiran Urs filed a petition in the Supreme Court in 2023, seeking the rationale. The court referred it to the Central Empowered Committee, constituted by the MoEF, which addresses only forest-related issues. The Committee shared it with the state government, and the case is still languishing with no resolution.

Illegal constructions and quarries were common problems along the borders of the protected area. The modified range of the protected zone can easily allow non-eco-sensitive activities, even within 100 metres, where permitted. 

“This can hamper the movement of animals. This wildlife corridor connects to the Bilekal forest, Mekedatu, Malaimahadeshwara Hills, the Bandipur area, and the Biligiri Rangana Hills Tiger Reserve, then to Satyamangala and the Western Ghats. In the east, it connects upto Tirupati via Hosur and Chittur,” Urs explains.

“According to the National Forest Policy, the state should have 33% forest cover, but Karnataka has only 21%. Instead of increasing the forest area, we are decreasing it,” he rues.

‘Monitoring committee’s responsibility’

However, the ecosensitive zone is functional, as it has a monitoring committee mandated to protect the area, say other observers.

 “There is a functioning eco-sensitive zone, and it is the ecosensitive zone monitoring committee’s statutory mandate to examine proposals and determine which projects pose potential ecological risks within that zone. Even for development or infrastructure works, the ESZ guidelines clearly stipulate permissible construction limits, including the maximum plinth area allowed,” says Avinash Krishnan, director, A Rocha, India, a non-governmental organisation. 

He is also one of the authors of the study documenting tiger presence in the BNP area.

“We cannot make a broad allegation that ‘many’ infrastructure projects exist without first establishing how many of them actually fall within the notified ESZ boundary. Some may, others may not, and projects located outside the ESZ come under the jurisdiction of different regulatory bodies,” he explains.

“The guidelines clearly define what is permitted, regulated and prohibited. Decisions must be consistent with these definitions. The Monitoring Committee is best placed to state how many proposals were reviewed, which were approved, and which were rejected for non-compliance with ESZ norms,” he adds.

However, there is no public data on the meetings held by the ecosensitive zone monitoring committee for Bannerghatta National Park, headed by the regional commissioner and various officials. When DH reached out to officials, the data was not readily available.

A source who preferred anonymity says the committee meets once every three months. “If the projects fall within the eco-sensitive zone, or if the members feel it will affect the protected area in any way, the meeting asks for an official field visit to figure out the extent and possible damage. Based on it, the projects are approved or rejected,” the source added.

The source added that these meetings use the 2020 notification, with a reduced 1 km buffer zone, as the guideline when deciding on projects.

Projects against the forest

The proposal to build the Satellite Town Ring Road flyover through the forest area is yet another setback. It will cut through the Thattekere area, which lies between Harohalli and Anekal. More than 1500 trees will be cut, and the road will cut the crucial elephant corridor that elephants historically used. 

There is no clarity here either, as the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) had requested the forest officials in 2023 to approve the project, citing that it had all approvals.  But in response to an RTI request by Kiran Urs in May 2025, NHAI refused to share the detailed plan, saying that the detailed project report was still under development.

“While the ESZ regulations may have come into effect later, the government must recognise that projects of this nature cannot be permitted so close to BNP,” says Sanjay Gubbi, a city-based environmentalist.

While establishing the Harohalli industrial area phase-4 in 2022, the new ESZ boundaries were taken into account. According to the application filed by the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board for environmental clearance, “the eco-sensitive zone is to be an extent of 1 km from the boundary of Bannerghatta National Park” — as per the notification of 2020.

The proposed sites for the new airport are Chudahalli and Somanhalli, two adjacent land parcels totalling 4,800 acres and 5,000 acres, respectively. Located close to Kanakapura Road near Harohalli, they are approximately 6-7 kilometres from the boundary of the BNP, say sources.

“If the airport comes up in the proposed locations, it would be yet another disaster, as the area will get commercialised fast and the forest will suffer,” says Urs.

Gubbi says that in 2012, he proposed the inclusion of new areas, such as Bilekal Betta, Manjunatha, and Ramadevarabetta, into the BNP area, and the notification was finally gazetted. He says that in 2022, they proposed adding 800 hectares to Bannerghatta National Park. However, this has not yet been notified.

“The park is already highly fragmented and urgently needs to be strengthened through a scientifically planned buffer. Without this, incidents of human–elephant conflict are bound to increase. Proper zoning is essential to clearly identify areas where wildlife needs must be prioritised and where human activities can be accommodated,” Gubbi adds.

“Animals and forests have a mutual relationship. When animals stop inhabiting forests, biodiversity patterns change, and various plant species will vanish. It will become yet another Turahalli forest in a few years,” Urs cautions.