Supreme Court Halts Tree Felling in KBR Park Eco-Sensitive Zone; H-CITI Flyover Works Stalled

Hyderabad: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed felling of trees in the environmentally sensitive area around Hyderabad’s KBR National Park while hearing a petition filed by environmental activist Kaajal Maheshwari challenging the Telangana High Court’s refusal to grant interim relief in the matter.

Supreme Court Bench of Justice BV Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan directed that no trees should be cut in the environmentally sensitive zone of 25 to 35 meters around the park. The petition included the overpass and underpass works carried out by the government within the scope of the H-CITI corridor project. The order is expected to temporarily halt portions of ongoing work near KBR Park.

Activists and residents were campaigning against the Hyderabad City Innovative and Transformative Infrastructure (H-CITI) project, which is part of the Strategic Road Development Plan (SRDP) under which flyover and underpass works will be constructed. They described the order as temporary relief. The court notified the authorities and sent the matter to July 27.

The case has its roots in an earlier appeal before the Telangana High Court. The original PIL in the Supreme Court was filed by Kaajal Maheshwari, Jasveen Jairath and Sagar Dhara in 2021, questioning the eco-sensitive zone notification and the lack of a public hearing before reducing the buffer zone around the park.

Reacting to the Supreme Court order, Uday Krishna, founding member of Vata Foundation, said that the dispute is not just about felling of trees but also how the environmentally sensitive area is being reduced. “There was no public hearing when declaring an eco-sensitive zone,” he said. “The problem is that the environmentally sensitive zone was declared without a public hearing.”

Krishna said the eco-sensitive zone acts as a protective layer around the core area of ​​the park and reducing it exposes the forest area to higher pollution and disturbance. “The length of some areas has even been reduced from 100 meters to three meters. This is not enough to protect the core area,” he said, adding that KBR Park supports a variety of plant and animal species despite being surrounded by dense urban development.

To recall, the order came days after protests intensified near Jubilee Hills, where activists alleged that logging continued at night. The Tree Preservation Committee’s previous inspection records showed that 1,942 trees were identified along the proposed overpass and underpass corridor. Of these, 1,532 trees were approved for felling, 380 for planting and 30 for preservation.

“Implementing one-way traffic around KBR Park would have given them signal-free movement without these flyovers,” said Krishna of Vata Foundation. “These overpasses won’t really solve the problem.” He argued that the city should focus more on improving public transport connectivity and increasing bus and metro capacity rather than repeated road widening. “At the end of the day, how many flyovers can you build and how wide can you make the road?” Krishna said. he asked.

Environmental groups argued that the scale of logging around the park would reduce green cover in one of the city’s few remaining urban forest areas and raised concerns about the survival rate of transplanted trees based on previous city projects.

The H-CITI plan includes construction of various structures, flyovers and underpasses to ease traffic congestion in the Jubilee Hills area

Floyers:

Jubilee Hills (JH) No. KBR Park entrance to Route 36.

From Yousufguda JH Road No. to 45.

KBR Park entrance and Banjara Hills Road No. 2, Mugdha Junction.

Maharaja Agrasen Junction to Road No 10.

Filmnagar Junction to Road No. 12.

Filmnagar to Maharaja Agrasen Junction.

Jubilee Hills check post, Road No. 45/Durgam to Cheruvu.

Underpasses:

Road No. 45 to KBR Park entrance junction and Yousufguda.

Jubilee Hills check post leading to Basavatarakam Cancer Hospital.

Banjara Hills Road No. KBR Park entrance to 2.

KBR Park entrance from Maharaja Agrasen Junction.

Indo-American Cancer Hospital Junction and Filmnagar junction.

Maharaja Agrasen Junction – Road No. 45

Filmnagar Junction to Jubilee Hills check post junction.