Shrinking shock absorbers of Bannerghatta National Park, Bengaluru

For a state that prides itself on having the highest elephant population in the country at 6,013, even as it faces a high rate of human casualties due to elephant attacks (20 deaths in 2025-26 alone), Karnataka must be at the forefront of maintaining eco-sensitive zones (ESZs).

However, instead of maintaining the ESZ, the main purpose of which is to act as a buffer to protected areas, successive governments have worked on reducing the ESZ around Bannerghatta National Park (BNP), which is home to three elephant corridors – Karadikal-Mahadeshwar, Thalli-Bilikal and Bilikal-Jwalagiri – and more than 150 elephants.

In 2015, the Government of Karnataka submitted a proposal to declare an ESZ around BNP in Bengaluru.

The ESZ was initially proposed around the BNP in the draft notification dated 15 June 2016, covering an area of ​​268.96 km². After this it was reduced to 181.57 sq km and then to 168.84 sq km. In the final notification dated March 11, 2020.

In the 2016 draft notification, the ESZ of BNP was 100 m to 4.5 km from the national park boundary, which was later reduced to 100 m to 1 km in the 2020 ESZ notification.

Challenging BNP’s ESZ cuts, K. Belliappa and others had filed a petition in May 2025. The Supreme Court constituted a Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to look into the issue and submit a report to the apex court.

On January 2, CEC member Chandra Prakash Goyal… visited the national park. He discussed with local farmers and petitioners. On January 7, committee chairman Siddhant Das submitted a report to the top court, recommending reinstating the 2016 draft notification and scrapping the 2020 notification that decriminalized the ESZ.

It recommended that the entire exercise of re-notifying the ESZ of BNP be completed within the next six months.

What are ESZ?

According to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), the National Environment Policy (2006) defines ESZs as areas or areas containing identified environmental resources of inestimable value that require special attention for their conservation because of their landscape, wildlife, biodiversity, historical and natural values.

It further states that the purpose of the ESZ is to protect the environment and avoid its degradation due to anthropogenic activities, to create some kind of barrier or shock absorber for the particular ecosystem (PA), and to act as a transition zone from areas of higher protection to areas of lower protection.

Kiran Urs, an environmentalist working with the Bannerghatta Nature Conservation Trust, said the ESZ is delineated by the MoEFCC based on certain guidelines. “MoEFCC has certain guidelines, and the ESZ can extend up to 10 km. Based on the assessment, BNP was given an ESZ of 100 m to 4.5 km in 2016. There were ecological reasons behind it, as the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) had conducted some studies, and it was decided that Bannerghatta needed a buffer zone of 100 m to 4.5 km,” Urs said.

Why was ESZ reduced?

Urs said the ESZ was reduced primarily to facilitate the Karnataka government’s large-scale housing development project, Surya Nagar Layout (KHB Surya City), which skirts the BNP’s revised ESZ limit. “Initially, it was thought that the cut was to ensure operation of mines in the area, and also because of land bought by politicians to run resorts. But later, we learned that the Karnataka Housing Board (KHB) was developing a housing project,” he said.

He said KHB had identified five villages for this housing project, of which three villages – Bagganadoddi, Kadjakkanahalli and Indalwadi – are inside the ESZ as per the 2016 draft notification.

“When they realized that they could not do any development projects in these villages as per the ESZ rules, they thought that we should change the boundary,” he said.

CEC, in its reportHas mentioned this. “It is also important to note that the State of Karnataka is undertaking large scale housing development, namely Surya Nagar Layout (KHB Surya City), which is immediately exceeding the revised ESZ limits of BNP. The subject land was earlier part of the ESZ, within which activities such as housing layout and development of large residential projects were clearly prohibited. However, by virtue of the ESZ notification dated 30.10.2018, this area was kept out of the ESZ. Urbanization Said to be the basis for pressure,” it said.

It states that following such exclusion, widespread environmental alteration has been carried out, including large-scale land leveling, flattening of naturally elevated terrain and destruction of existing topography to facilitate housing development.

“The project, being of considerable magnitude, is likely to cause irreversible modification to the land adjacent to the protected forest, raising serious concerns regarding the absence of any scientific assessment, evaluation of cumulative environmental impacts and adherence to constitutional and environmental safeguards. It is also significant that the project site is adjacent to the Karadikkal-Mahadeshwar Wildlife Corridor, and the Forest Department of Karnataka has already flagged the possibility of increased human-wildlife conflict arising from this development,” the CEC said. Said. Report.

The CEC notes that the decision to reduce the ESZ was taken in a cabinet sub-committee meeting chaired by the Environment Minister of Karnataka in 2017, and this is contrary to para 6.2 of the 2011 guidelines for declaration of ESZ around national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, which requires the state government to appoint a Chief Wildlife Warden, an ecologist, a representative of the local self-government and an official of the Revenue Department to carry out the assessment. There is a need to form a committee. Recommend appropriate extent of ESZ for its management and activities included in the master plan for the area.

“The revised proposal to reduce ESZ is in violation of the 2011 guidelines,” the CEC said.

farmers protest

Many farmers have opposed the housing project and even filed petitions challenging the acquisition of their agricultural land.

“KHB has forced many farmers to give up their cultivable land for KHB Surya City. Why should our land be forcibly acquired when we still want to continue our agricultural activities? Anekal taluk was once known as the ‘Ragi Bowl of Karnataka’, but large tracts of cultivable land have been forcefully acquired, and farmers who do not want to give up their land are being threatened,” said a resident of Kadjakanahalli. Farmer Somshekhar T told. The Hindu.

Local farmers and environmental activists said about 36,000 housing sites would be built in the 2,200 acres of land earmarked for the project.

Shivakumar L, a farmer from Indalwadi, said, “Apart from being agricultural land, it is in the elephant corridor and comes under the ESZ. If large-scale commercialization happens, and complexes and stadiums are built here, it will cause great harm to the environment.”

In August 2025, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah approved a proposal by KHB to build a state-of-the-art sports complex, including a cricket stadium with a capacity of 80,000 seats, at Surya City.

“Stadiums are usually built by the sports or youth affairs department. Why is KHB involved in this? If this stadium comes here, there is no benefit for us. Will they allow farmers’ children or local youth to use the facilities? At best, our children will be offered security guard jobs, or they will sell tickets for cricket matches,” said Nagaraj, another farmer.

elephant corridor

According to TV Ramachandra, an ecologist who conducted a study on the BNP ESZ for the forest department, the national park is one of the oldest habitats of Asian elephants, supporting a population of 100–150 pachyderms, and a large (200–300) migratory population is seen from the adjacent Tali Reserve Forest and Kaveri Wildlife Sanctuary.

The study said the BNP serves as a terminal point on the northern edge of the Mysore Elephant Reserve, a migration route for Asian elephants from the adjacent Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary of Karnataka and the Krishnagiri and Hosur forest divisions of Tamil Nadu to the Western Ghats forest in the Nilgiris spanning through the MM Hills, Biligiri Ranga Temple Sanctuary, Kollegal Forest Division and the Sathyamangalam Forest. The biosphere is in continuity with the reserve. Tamil Nadu.

Apart from elephants, BNP hosts many other wild animals. “The park constitutes the northern terminal of the notified Mysore Elephant Reserve. It consists mainly of dry deciduous and scrub forests, with riverine and moist deciduous habitats in the valleys, it supports breeding populations of elephants and other key wildlife species such as leopard, wild dog, gaur, sambar, chital, sloth bear and slender loris, and serves as an important watershed that gives rise to numerous tributaries that ultimately drain into the Kaveri. flow into the river,” the CEC report said.

Tigers are being seen since 2015

Urs said that two tigers have been sighted in BNP in the last few years. “Two tigers have been sighted since 2015. They have come from the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary, and they are making it (BNP) their habitat,” he said.

The petitioners said that with thousands of new residents, vehicles, lights and waste entering the landscape, encounters with elephants, leopards, bears and other wildlife would no longer be occasional, but inevitable.