Bengaluru civic groups move NGT against Tunnel Road project

Bengaluru Praja Vedike and other civic groups in the city have moved the National Green Tribunal (NGT), seeking the cancellation of the proposed Twin Tunnel Road project, which claims to decongest the city’s chronic traffic problem. The petition alleges that the ₹19,000 crore project violates environmental clearances, is riddled with flaws, and contradicts Bengaluru’s mobility plans.

The citizen activists said that during the first hearing held on Wednesday, NGT directed that notices be issued to the State government, the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), Bangalore Smart Infrastructure Limited (B-SMILE), the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and the project consultants.

D.T. Devare, environmentalist and a trustee of Bangalore Environment Trust (BET) and Kathyayini Chamaraj, Executive Trustee of Citizens Voluntary Initiative for the City (CIVIC), the co-petitioners, argue that the State government hastily announced the project in May 2024 during the State Budget without any credible technical assessment or backing in the Comprehensive Mobility Plan 2020. The proposal, the petition said, is politically driven from inception and was advanced despite two failed Expressions of Interest. The project is later retrofitted into a feasibility study through procedural manoeuvering, they alleged.

On May 22, 2025, the State Cabinet approved the construction of a 16.74 km twin tunnel from Esteem Mall in Hebbal to Silk Board under a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model. A Special Purpose Vehicle, B-SMILE, was created to execute the project, with Rodic Consultants preparing the Detailed Project Report (DPR) in barely three months.

The petition alleges that the DPR is riddled with factual errors, incomplete annexures, and critical omissions, including site-specific geological surveys, hydrological and flood-risk mapping, biodiversity assessment, and tree enumeration. Traffic modelling, it says, excludes major vehicle categories, underestimates emissions, and still admits that congestion at key junctions will remain unresolved.

The alignment of the tunnel, the petition points out, cuts through ecologically sensitive and legally protected areas such as the Peninsular Gneiss at Lalbagh, Hebbal Valley’s stormwater corridor, and the vicinity of the critically polluted Peenya Industrial Area. These zones are particularly vulnerable to groundwater depletion, soil instability, and aggravated flooding.

Independent studies, including those from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), have warned that the project could encourage a shift from public to private transport, increase exhaust emissions and fossil fuels use, worsen climate vulnerabilities. Even statutory agencies like the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) have noted that the tunnel road contradicts Bengaluru’s approved mobility and climate policies and have recommended alternative measures instead, the petitioners said.

Despite these concerns, the petition alleges that authorities bypassed the mandatory Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), ignored public consultation, and exploited a loophole in the 2006 EIA notification, arguing that ‘tunnels’ are not explicitly listed to avoid clearance. This, the petitioners said, mirrors past unlawful practices such as the scrapped 2017 steel flyover project.

The petition further notes that the tunnel alignment overlaps with a proposed Metro corridor, which offers a more inclusive, sustainable, and environmentally sound alternative.

The petitioners have sought the tribunal’s intervention to declare the project unlawful, quash the tender process, and order its cancellation to prevent irreversible ecological damage. They have also urged the NGT to uphold statutory environmental safeguards.