Now more than ever is the time to improve the public consultation process. This is also the first time a suburban railway project is being launched, and it is different from a regular road, flyover or underpass project.
Slender lorises were commonly spotted in Bengaluru once, but with widespread tree felling, they are now cornered into isolated patches like IISc. Further tree loss is threatening the survival of the small population that remains now.
Bengaluru recently revived its Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC), which is supposed to be the local authority for biodiversity conservation. But lack of clarity on their roles and powers have made BMCs largely ineffective across the country.
There are many laws that relate to greenery in Bengaluru, but they all need to talk the same language in order to actually protect greenery. Ambiguity in laws needs to be eliminated.
A newly proposed amendment by the State Government to the Karnataka Tree Protection Act (1976) asks to denotify about 50 species/ subspecies of trees that currently need permission to be cut down. Simply put, if
