Supreme Court Restrains Tree Felling in Eco-Sensitive Zone Around Hyderabad’s KBR National Park
The Supreme Court has restrained tree felling within the eco-sensitive zone around Hyderabad’s KBR National Park while hearing a plea challenging the Telangana government’s proposal to reduce the buffer zone for infrastructure development.
Verdicto News Desk 
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday restrained authorities from cutting trees within the eco-sensitive zone surrounding Kasu Brahmananda Reddy (KBR) National Park in Hyderabad.
A bench comprising Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan directed that no tree felling should take place within the existing 25-35 metre eco-sensitive zone around the park.
The apex court also issued notices to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the Telangana government and other concerned authorities, seeking their responses to a plea filed by environmental activist Kaajal Maheshwari.
The court was hearing Maheshwari’s petition challenging a Telangana High Court order that had declined to grant interim relief in the matter.
Maheshwari had approached the high court against the proposed reduction of the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) around KBR National Park to a width ranging from 3 metres to 29.8 metres.
The plea argued that such a narrow buffer zone would undermine the purpose of an ESZ, which acts as a “shock absorber” for protected areas by shielding them from external developmental pressures.
The controversy dates back to 2015, when the Telangana government proposed the development of six junctions around the national park through the construction of multi-level flyovers under the Strategic Road Development Plan.
The infrastructure project reportedly required the felling of more than 1,300 trees for road widening.
As part of the plan, the government had proposed modifying the eco-sensitive zone and reducing the park’s protective buffer from the current 25-35 metres to as little as 3 metres in certain stretches.
