NGT finds Telangana’s Kaleshwaram works illegal, stays works till EAC nod
ET Bureau|
Updated: Oct 26, 2017, 05.53 PM IST
HYDERABAD: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has termed the works of Telangana's ambitious Rs 80,000 crore Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project as 'illegal' in the absence of required approvals, while ordering stay on all kinds of project works.
Observing that there were serious objections raised by Maharashtra against Kaleshwaram project, the tribunal said the project works could be halted in the territory of Maharashtra that could prove public money spent on Kaleshwaram project a loss to exchequer.
Further, noting that the fragile ecological sensitive zone would be a victim of the project, the tribunal directed Telangana to re-examine the project or wait till the entire project was evaluated by the Expert Appraisal Committee of union environment ministry.
The NGT bench headed by Justice Jawad Rahim, which on October 5 stayed works of Kaleshwaram project while responding to a petition challenging the works in the absence of environmental and forest clearances, uploaded detailed orders on Tuesday.
Challenging the interim stay orders of the tribunal, the Telangana government has moved the High Court at Hyderabad, which has posted the case to Thursday for further hearings.
The petitioner had challenged construction works of Kaleshwaram irrigation project in ecologically sensitive zone involving three barrages on River Godavari that submerges villages and forest land, alleging that the construction works were being taken up in violation of environmental laws.
The Telangana government had argued before the tribunal that a significant part of the 180 TMC of water would be drawn by the Kaleshwaram project for providing drinking water to Hyderabad and areas en route to Hyderabad under Mission Bhagiratha scheme. The state government argued that only drinking water part of the Kaleshwaram project works were currently being taken up, which do not require any environmental clearances.
In its interim orders, the tribunal observed that Kaleshwaram is primarily an irrigation project with a plan to use part of the water harnessed by the project for supply of drinking water and that the project was opposed by Maharashtra. Further, the NGT bench observed that though Telangana contended that no forest land would be involved, the map produced by the state disclosed that substantial extent of forest land was involved.
Accordingly, in its interim orders, the NGT bench restrained the Telangana government from "carrying out any construction activities for the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme or any other activity like felling of trees, blasting and tunnelling in the forest areas in violation of the Forest Conservation Act, until the mandatory statutory clearances including Environment and Forest clearances are granted."
When contacted, Telangana government's irrigation secretary SK Joshi said the government has on Wednesday received in-principle stage-I approval from the union environment ministry for diversion of 3,168.131 hectares of forest land involved in the Kaleshwaram irrigation project. Terming it "a major milestone" towards clearances needed for the Kaleshwaram project, Joshi said "the legal experts are currently working on various options to get the stay orders of NGT vacated so that the construction works of Kaleshwaram project are resumed at the earliest."
Observing that there were serious objections raised by Maharashtra against Kaleshwaram project, the tribunal said the project works could be halted in the territory of Maharashtra that could prove public money spent on Kaleshwaram project a loss to exchequer.
Further, noting that the fragile ecological sensitive zone would be a victim of the project, the tribunal directed Telangana to re-examine the project or wait till the entire project was evaluated by the Expert Appraisal Committee of union environment ministry.
The NGT bench headed by Justice Jawad Rahim, which on October 5 stayed works of Kaleshwaram project while responding to a petition challenging the works in the absence of environmental and forest clearances, uploaded detailed orders on Tuesday.
Challenging the interim stay orders of the tribunal, the Telangana government has moved the High Court at Hyderabad, which has posted the case to Thursday for further hearings.
The petitioner had challenged construction works of Kaleshwaram irrigation project in ecologically sensitive zone involving three barrages on River Godavari that submerges villages and forest land, alleging that the construction works were being taken up in violation of environmental laws.
The Telangana government had argued before the tribunal that a significant part of the 180 TMC of water would be drawn by the Kaleshwaram project for providing drinking water to Hyderabad and areas en route to Hyderabad under Mission Bhagiratha scheme. The state government argued that only drinking water part of the Kaleshwaram project works were currently being taken up, which do not require any environmental clearances.
In its interim orders, the tribunal observed that Kaleshwaram is primarily an irrigation project with a plan to use part of the water harnessed by the project for supply of drinking water and that the project was opposed by Maharashtra. Further, the NGT bench observed that though Telangana contended that no forest land would be involved, the map produced by the state disclosed that substantial extent of forest land was involved.
Accordingly, in its interim orders, the NGT bench restrained the Telangana government from "carrying out any construction activities for the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme or any other activity like felling of trees, blasting and tunnelling in the forest areas in violation of the Forest Conservation Act, until the mandatory statutory clearances including Environment and Forest clearances are granted."
When contacted, Telangana government's irrigation secretary SK Joshi said the government has on Wednesday received in-principle stage-I approval from the union environment ministry for diversion of 3,168.131 hectares of forest land involved in the Kaleshwaram irrigation project. Terming it "a major milestone" towards clearances needed for the Kaleshwaram project, Joshi said "the legal experts are currently working on various options to get the stay orders of NGT vacated so that the construction works of Kaleshwaram project are resumed at the earliest."
