4-lane road to cut through elephant corridor

BENGALURU: Trucks rumbling through the 260-sqkm Bannerghatta National Park (BNP), 22km from Bengaluru, is unnerving. If the unabated and illegal quarrying inside the park is not enough, the government has proposed a four-lane road from Harohalli and Anekal which will cut across the elephant corridor. Worse, a water factory has been set up in the eco-sensitive zone.

On Monday, a group of 30 villagers met home minister G Parameshwara and urged him to take steps to protect the park. "The minister has ordered the Bengaluru Rural superintendent of police to immediately halt quarrying until probe," a source present at the meeting told TOI.

Letters from the BNP deputy conservator of forests to stop quarrying and other activities that harm the elephant path have fallen on deaf ears."Quarry owners enjoy political clout. There is poaching and sand theft too. Residents have petitioned all levers of the government. But quarry owners have threatened villagers. It is a mini-Ballari in the making," a source said.

Villagers said that at Koratageredoddi, within 500 metres of the forest bordering Ragihalli, a new quarry unit is set to open. The park has been plundered for years.

The government has reduced the eco-sensitive zone to 181.57 sqkm.This, despite a 1991 circular of the government that reads: "Under Rule (3)2 of the Karnataka Minor Mineral Concession Rule 1960, that the quarry area within a 1-km radius around the boundary of the BNP is preserved as safe zone for protection of wildlife and no quarrying lease shall be granted."

Villagers told TOI they feared quarry owners frequently target them. "The noise levels have gone up since blasting takes place after 6pm every day . There is so much air pollution that children fall ill frequently. A resort has come up near a quarry. There are 700 houses in the 16 revenue villages around the park. Due to the blasts, there are cracks in our roofs," said a villager. Residents are furious at the latest proposal to build a four-lane road linking Harohalli and Anekal that will cut through the elephant corridor. The gover nment has floated tenders for the project."This is disastrous for elephants. They pass through thick forests and suddenly this road will obstruct their movement," a source said.

Prasanna Vynatheya, founder, Kenneth Anderson Society, said Bannerghatta can support 300 elephants."Obstruction like this will lead to them straying into villages. Elephant strave l through the corridor from Melagiri in March-April.They stay for two months before moving on," he said.

Barely 200 metres from the forest is a water factory, which has come up in violation of the Environment Act. On May 9 this year, Ragihalli residents wrote to the deputy superintendent of police, forest cell, Cauvery Bhavan.

"How can a reserved forest and eco-sensitive zone have industries? We are helpless in protecting this forest which is so close to Bengaluru. We hope the plundering stops," said an activist.

TIMES VIEW

The four-lane road planned in the Bannerghatta National Park could strike a massive blow to the elephant conservation programme in the state. The road cuts across the elephant corridor and vehicular traffic could pose a major threat to easy movement of jumbos. The government seems to have given a go-by to the basic provisions of the laws in place for national parks and allowed even quarrying inside the green zone. The proposed road should not be allowed to be built and all measures quickly taken to ensure the park remains a haven for elephants.