Madurai
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday has directed that work on Neyveli Lignite Corporation’s (NLC) power plant coming up at Virudhunagar district be kept in abeyance until the further orders of the court.
A division bench of Justices T.S. Sivagnanam and R.Tharani, hearing a petition regarding encroachment on waterbodies and paths for the project, sought response from the revenue officials and posted the case for further hearing on March 26.
The Aruppukottai Revenue Divisional Officer, who was present in the court, said that the Tahsildars of Aruppukottai and Tiruchuli were instructed not to remove trees or the waterbodies.
The petitioner Narayana Athimoolam of Virudhunagar in his public interest litigation petition filed before the High Court, said that the Neyveli Lignite Corporation and Jakson Engineers Limited, had encroached upon waterways, cart tracks, footpaths and spillways at Tiruchuli, Parattanatham, Thammanayackanpatti and Pillaiyarnatham villages.
He said that the 500 Megawatt power plant was being set up on 1000 acres in Aruppukottai and the Corporation was buying lands in the villages for setting up the plant. He complained that heavy machinery were being deployed to clear the waterways and the footpaths.
This resulted in depletion of water resources in the area, he said and added that electric poles were also being pulled down to enable construction activities.
The petitioner also alleged total violation of the Town and Country Planning Act and no permission was obtained under the Tamil Nadu Panchayat Building Rules.
