Bengaluru’s Aravalli Moment? Why SC Panel Will Be Visiting Bannerghatta National Park Today

Bengaluru: A Supreme Court appointed panel will inspect the Bannerghatta National Park in Bengaluru on Friday following a 2018 plea against the government move to cut the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around city's green backyard. Much like the Aravalli row, the allegation here that the move shrinks the ESZ drastically - from 268.9sqkm to 168.8sqkm - and curtails its width from 4km to 1 km.A group of citizens and activists led by K Belliappa approached the Supreme Court in May 2025, arguing that the reduction of the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around Bannerghatta National Park (BNP) defeats the very purpose of such protection.Also Read: Aravallis Up for 'Review' Again — But What's at Stake?On Friday, members of the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered

Committee (CEC), headed by Chandra Prakash Goyal, are scheduled to visit the park and hold discussions with senior Karnataka officials, including the chief secretary, to assess the ecological impact of the ESZ reduction, a TOI report said.

What's The Case About?

In a preliminary notification issued in June 2016, the Union environment ministry, in consultation with the Karnataka government, proposed declaring 268.9 square kilometres around BNP as an ESZ. However, the final notification issued in November 2018 significantly reduced the protected area. The petitioners have alleged that this cutback was influenced by real estate developers and mining and quarrying interests. They also claimed that several ecologically sensitive areas, including well-known elephant corridors, were left out of the final notification.Kiran Urs, a member of the Bannerghatta Nature Conservation Trust (BNCT), said the reduction of the ESZ seemed aimed at legitimising existing environmental violations. “The pockets excluded from the final notification contain active quarries, and there were efforts to build a township along the boundary, which will inevitably exert immense pressure on the ecosystem,” Urs alleged.Keerthan Reddy of BNCT described Bannerghatta as a rare ecological asset for a fast-expanding Bengaluru. “No other city can boast this vast green landscape in its backyard, dotted with a salubrious population of tigers, elephants, leopards, and countless other species of flora and fauna. The city is already witness to rising incidents of human-animal conflict, and violations like these would only add to the problem,” Reddy cautioned.