Supreme Court-appointed panel inspects Bannerghatta National Park to assess eco-sensitive zone reduction | Bengaluru News
Bengaluru: Amid growing concerns over the alleged deliberate reduction of the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around Bannerghatta National Park (BNP), a member of the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) Friday conducted on-ground inspection of the park and held discussions with forest officials. The visit comes ahead of the SC hearing scheduled for Jan 7.CEC member Chandra Prakash Goyal toured the ESZ boundary along with forest officials to assess the implications of ESZ curtailment. The inspection followed a petition filed by K Belliappa and others in May 2025, challenging the reduction of ESZ through a notification issued in March 2020 — an issue being compared to an Aravali-like ecological controversy in Bengaluru’s backyard.
While the preliminary notification issued in 2016 had proposed an ESZ of 268.9sqkm around BNP, the draft notification of 2018 and the final one two years later reduced the buffer zone by 100sqkm.During the CEC’s visit, representatives of Bannerghatta Nature Conservation Trust (BNCT), appearing on behalf of the petitioners, made a presentation to the delegation, including Goyal, principal chief conservator of forests and head of forest force Meenakshi Negi, BNP DCF Kajol Patil, and conservator of forests (Bengaluru circle) Sivasankar S.The presentation highlighted ecological consequences of the reduced ESZ and warned of the impact of rapid urbanisation on the region’s flora and fauna.Farmers from villages falling within the ESZ interacted with the delegation, urging the Supreme Court to deny permission for development of townships or residential layouts — by private developers and govt agencies — in the region. They argued that such development would defeat the very purpose of ESZ, which serves as a crucial buffer protecting BNP from Bengaluru’s expanding urban footprint.Terming the visit fruitful, Goyal said he had heard all stakeholders, including petitioners, villagers and forest officials. “I visited around six villages within the national park and its boundary areas. I am now aware of issues such as stone quarrying, mining and development of layouts in and around the ESZ,” he said.The inspection report is likely to be submitted to Supreme Court early next week. “I have also taken stock of issues beyond the petition, including areas where ESZ may need to be extended,” he told TOI.On allegations that reduction of ESZ would facilitate residential layouts and resorts, Goyal said the claims will need verification. “We will have to ascertain whether these developments came up before or after the 2020 notification, as that would give a different dimension to the issue,” he said, adding that the committee will attempt to bring “some ecological semblance” to its report.
