BENGALURU: The Union government will now take a call on the proposal of the Indian Institute of Management-Bengaluru (IIMB) to expand its campus on Bannerghatta Road. The premier institution, spread across 100 acres, had submitted a proposal on expanding its campus to the state forest department as the land falls in the eco-sensitive zone of Bannerghatta National Park (BNP).

As per forest conservation rules and Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, approval for non-forestry works on any land in national parks and in eco-sensitive zones requires approval from the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL). Forest officials said the sixth state board for wildlife standing committee meeting chaired by Forest Minister Eshwar B Khandre on Thursday decided to recommend the proposal to the NBWL for consideration.

“The IIMB had sought 20,000 sqmt of land. So, NBWL clearance is required. We have also imposed some conditions. They include keeping the campus as green as possible and ensuring there is least hinderance to wildlife in the vicinity. We have also asked them to do a capacity building assessment for the department for physical upgradation,” the officials said.

It may be noted that, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) had undertaken a study on the ESZ of BNP and the need to revisit it. They recommended for increasing the ESZ area to 5km which will cover 1768.4sqkm from the existing 1sqkm (169sqkm). 

At the meeting it was also decided to declare a forest patch spread across 2877acre in Allur-B village in Chittappur taluk of Kalaburgi village was a conservation reserve. 

Forest officials explained that the forest patch falls under Yadgir and Kalaburgi districts and houses a helath prey and predator population. A No Objection Certificate (NOC) has also been obtained from the villagers and the district administrations before giving clearance to the project. 

"Presently the dry deciduous forest land is a notified forest under Section-4 of the Karnataka Forest Act, 1963. Survey ahs shown the land housing leopard, jungle cat, four-horned antelope, spotted deer, pangolin, jackal, boar and small Indian civet," the official said. 

This story has been written by Bosky Khanna of The New Indian Express.