Bengaluru has lost 97% of its tree cover:  It has been tragically reduced from 70% to 2%, in the past 5 decades!  More than 90% of its Wetlands are destroyed! More than 95% of the city is concretised! There is hardly any nature left in Bengaluru. It is no more a Garden City or a Lake City, it is now a Concrete Desert!

Bengaluru is heating up, every year, the Heat Wave conditions are worsening; the temperature reached 42 degrees this year!  Bengaluru is polluted!  Bengaluru has crossed DAY ZERO, and is undergoing the worst ever water crisis!  Bangalore is sinking into a Climate Crisis!  Bengaluru has long exceeded its bio-capacity, and its growth is way beyond it's ecological boundaries. Only a stupid, directionless and vision less administration will allow a city to keep growing in this manner!

In a damning indictment, in January 2023, none less than the Supreme Court of India referred to Bengaluru as a metaphor for "Ruined City", it said that Bengaluru's model of growth is a template for Urban Ruin due to Unplanned Growth"; it further asked other cities not to make a Bengaluru of themselves.  It also appealed to all Governments to mandate Environment Impact Assessment before approving any development activity.  Coming from the highest court in the land, we need to pay special heed to this clarion call for saving our environment and push for sustainable development.  

We cannot continue any more on the destructive development path that we have pursued so far.  The only way we can rescue ourselves is by 'FIRST SAVING EVERY TREE THAT EXISTS', and regenerating the city by planting of more trees!  Planting new saplings alone will not atone for the felling of old trees, they take decades if not centuries to grow. 

ORIGINS OF THE PROBLEM:   Unplanned Development

The Govt of Karnataka has been blatantly violating the Constitution of India since 1992, by not setting up the Metropolitan Planning Committee, the Planning Authority for the city, and thereby not issuing holistic masterplans. Instead, the Govt keeps issuing Ad-hoc, Non-Plan projects that are non-statutory.  Since citizens are legal illiterate, they tend to get away with these irresponsible actions.  As a result these plans are not part of a holistic, well thought out Masterplan, they do not have no ecological assessment.  The very basis for these projects are faulty, as they are not part of a holistic Regional Mobility Plan.  Therefore, they are destructive in more way s than one.  On the one hand, they promote more road use, instead of Mass Transit.  On the other hand, the alignments are very faulty, and cause undue and avoidable destruction. 

BENGALURU's RINGS OF DEATH!

The Karnataka Government, has been executing disastrous ill-thought out policies and projects, that chip away at the meagre green cover remaining!  This will make our city un-inhabitable!  

1. The KRDCL has ILLEGALLY issued contracts, without EIA, WITHOUT DUE PROCESS, for a 'Bangalore Surrounding Roads project', which targets the massacre of nearly 8,500 trees.  The trees targeted by the project are grandmother trees, and are an integral part of our heritage!  This is probably the last batch of old indigenous trees that exist in Bangalore and need to be declared as Heritage Trees', instead of felling!   Many trees have already been cut, and some have been transplanted, without any scientific basis.
2. The BDA has announced a Peripheral Ring Road project which will target in excess of 33,000 trees, again without EIA, WITHOUT DUE PROCESS.
3. Bannerghatta Eco Sensitive Zone which is the last lung space of the city, has been reduced by a shocking 100 Square KM, once again without due process. 
4. Many Internal roads are marked for widening, and many other projects both by the BDA and BBMP, without any scientific plan, without EIA, WITHOUT DUE PROCESS, without public consultation, targeting many thousands of trees for felling.
5. The Namma Metro Project by BMRCL itself was undertaken without EIA, WITHOUT DUE PROCESS, without public consultation, and the BMRCL is on a rampage as usual targeting many more thousands of trees.
6. The new lines for Namma Metro project by BMRCL again are non-statutory and not part of a comprehensive mobility plan that is part of a city masterplan, and causes immense damage to trees. 
7. The Suburban Rail project was hoped to be a green project, as it could have been set up on existing railway lines, and would not require any tree felling.  However, instead, the Govt has come up with a monster project which creates additional railways lines parallel to existing lines, and hence will require massive funding, land acquisition and cause the death of thousands of trees. This is the most ridiculous form of City Planning ever.  Please refer to change.org/BengaluruSuburbanNow

All these decisions lack EIA, DUE PROCESS, have not had Public Consultation, lack DPRs or public consultation on DPR, lack Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), lack Public consultation on the main decision/project itself.  The Govt is not just riding roughshod over good governance principles, it is trampling over democracy itself.  The Govt is a trustee of the public commons, it is answerable to the citizens for everything it does with it.  It is therefore mandated by principle to seek public permission for any destructive action it takes. 

ALL THESE PLANS AND PROJECTS ARE ILLEGAL:  

1. Planning Norms violated:  There is no legal Masterplan for Bengaluru that has been prepared by the MPC (mandated by 74th Amendment of our constitution), and has had Public Consultation.
2. The above projects are not part of the TRANSPORT PLAN, of a legally produced Masterplan, complying with provisions of the 74th Amendment.
3. Pointless:  The projects are piece-meal, band-aid approach which will not solve any problem.
4. Harmful:  The measures will accentuate the heat island effect and lead to lowering the quality of living in the city, due to acute tree cover loss, increase in vehicles, industrialisation and pollution, and lead to more concretisation.
5. NO DUE PROCESS for projects:  There is No Detailed Project Report, No Environment Impact Assessment,  and No Public Consultation on the DPR, done for any of the above.
6. Alternatives have not been studied, and the decisions have been taken in an ad hoc, haphazard manner.
7. THERE HAS BEEN NO PUBLIC CONSULTATION for all decisions!  Making them not just a violations of the law, but also contempt of the High Court!  
8. Sham public hearings:  Instead of holding public consultations on the Main decisions / Project DPRs, arbitrary sham public hearings are being conducted hastily by the Forest Dept on tree cutting, and Environment Impact by the KSPCB, and these are being passed off as Public Consultations, which they are not!  The Govt is trying to hoodwink the public!  But we are not hoodwinked!

Other illegalities:

1. Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act, 1976 has not been notified in the Bengaluru Urban District and Bengaluru Rural district.  Hence, as the necessary administrative mechanisms have not been established as per the act, the felling of every single tree is a violation of the LAW.  The Govt is acting in violation of the ACT! This is contempt of the Laws! 
2. The Wetland Rules under The Environment Protection Act 1986, has not been notified by the Karnataka Govt, the State Wetland Authority has not been set up in order to protect all water bodies!  This is a grievous violation when our city is well past Day Zero situation!
3. “It is not right for any infrastructure project to be retrofitted into a non-existent plan. Currently, there is no plan for Bengaluru’s expansion,”. “Since there is no plan, you cannot push for the project in violation of the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act. That is one major illegality,” 
4. The Supreme Court had held that no project can be conceived against an original alignment. “If the government wanted to bring in the PRR, it had to amend the original plan in accordance with the Act, which it did not do.”
5. In the BMICAPA vs NICE judgement, Supreme court ruled that the concept of any project against any planning framework was void from the very beginning.  The decisions by the govt go against the law of the land. 
6. The KRDCL project for road widening needs acquiring of new land.  But in this case, the widening is being carried out without acquisition of fresh land, which points to deliberate and planned destruction of trees!  

It is criminal for an elected govt to commit such illegalities and rob us our our right to environment, and carry out such an ecocide! 

MISSING THE LARGER PICTURE:

On top of everything else, this onslaught was launched on the city's remaining green cover, and environmental assets, when the city and the state were going through a humanitarian crisis due to COVID.  The Govt has bigger priorities to address.  For instance, the BMTC is providing the vital backbone service for transport, but is cash starved to even pay its employees.  And the Govt announces various road widening projects that do not have any positive outcomes, and only lead to deterioration of the city's ecology.  The Govt needs to be prioritising public money for such vital services, instead of blowing it up on projects that are not required.  

These projects will not meet any need in the new reality:

Due to the inactivity of the Metropolitan Planning Committee, and the due process of planning, the projects are all non-statutory and in violation of both good planning, as well as the laws.  Not only that, due the lack of a thorough framework for mobility, these projects will not help the city.  What the city requires are Mass Transit solutions that will reduce the load on existing infrastructure.  Without prioritising those and waiting to see their outcomes, the city does not need to rush into destructive solutions like these. 

What is obvious is that the city is stuck in a misgovernment and maladministration trap!   This is not governance, its a charade! 

WE NEED TO TURN THE CLOCK BACK:

And the COVID pandemic has shown us the importance of having healthy forest buffer ecosystems.  We need more green cover, and we need to safeguard what exists today. 

OUR DEMANDS:

1. Declare Climate Emergency.  Declare zero tolerance for Tree cutting / Green Cover reduction.  
2. Scrap the Bangalore Surrounding Roads project.
3. Scrap the Peripheral Ring Road Project. 
4. Cancel the Bannerghatta ESZ reduction notification.
5. FOLLOW DUE PROCESS: 
   1. Empower Metropolitan Committee to develop Masterplan for the entire district of Bengaluru. Employ ecologists as the core architects of the plan. 
   2. Freeze all development till a New properly formed Holistic Masterplan is created for the city!  Institute an 'Ecology Plan' as the basis of the entire Masterplan Exercise.  We need a habitable city first.  Save existing green cover (2%), and increase it to at least 30%.
   3. Build an integrated Sustainable Mobility Plan for the entire District of Bengaluru, as part of the Masterplan framework ias per the 74th Constitutional Amendment, via the Metropolitan Planning Committee. 
   4. Establish Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority, with capacity building employing qualified Transport and Urban planners and engineers. 
   5. Let the UMTA, under the MPC develop an integrated Multi-Modal transport plan for the entire district.
   6. Form a Sustainable Regional Transport Plan for the entire South India and even Nationally, in collaboration with the various state govts and the central govt, focussing on sustainable modes of transport such as rail. 
   7. Provide efficient Mass Transit:  Let all Road requirements be based on the multi-modal transport mix of Mass transit options such as suburban rail, a re-imagined and efficient bus service, metro, etc.,   Discourage private ownership of vehicles, and reduce congestion.  Make both new road construction and road widening unnecessary.
   8. For ROAD WIDENING :  In exceptional cases where road widening might be required, explore eco-friendly options such as retaining the tree line as median, and acquiring land beyond the tree line for additional lanes, as shown here:  https://www.facebook.com/CitizensAgendaForBengaluru/posts/3546948048668281

SAVE EVERY SINGLE TREE!   

WE CANNOT AFFORD TO LOSE EVEN ONE MORE!

#MaraKadiBedi #SaveBengaluruTrees

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Bengaluru's green cover lost:  https://researchmatters.in/article/satellite-images-show-green-cover-bangalore-reducing-alarmingly-fast#:~:text=This%20came%20at%20the%20sacrifice,the%20next%20couple%20of%20years 

Project details KRDCL:  http://www.krdcl.in/en/budgetworks-blraroundroads 

Independent Environment Impact Assesssment (EIA) on KRDCL BSR project by experts:  https://bengaluru.citizenmatters.in/bangalore-surrounding-roads-widening-project-tree-felling-ashwathkattes-environmental-damage-eia-47094

Reduction of Bannerghatta ESZ: https://www.deccanherald.com/specials/insight/reduction-of-bannerghatta-esz-for-whose-benefit-708419.html

This news report in Feb 2020 cites BDA applying for permission for felling 16,600 trees for PRR project.  Wonder what the remaining 14,000 trees were for.  Now that PRR project trees have gone up to 33,000+ trees, the number has doubled!, and the other 14K trees, how many are they now? :  https://www.newskarnataka.com/bangalore/bda-submits-proposal-to-cut-29512-trees-for-various-infra-projects-in-bluru

PRR Project details: https://www.deccanherald.com/city/top-bengaluru-stories/bengaluru-not-200-over-33000-trees-to-go-for-peripheral-ring-road-865300.html 

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