Next NGT hearing on Sehrawan toll in July

GURUGRAM: NGT has granted time till July 24 to all parties involved in the proposed shifting of the Kherki Daula toll plaza to Sehrawan, to file their responses on the issue.
The move comes after all stakeholders — National Highways Authority Of India (NHAI), the central and state governments, the state forest department, the Gurugram divisional forest officer, the deputy commissioner of NCR planning board and the state pollution control board — asked for more time.

NGT on April 13 had issued a notice to NHAI and the Union environment and forest ministry, on the proposed Kherki Daula toll plaza relocation, in the wake of a petition seeking a stay on the proposed relocation site at Sehrawan, claiming it’s a wildlife corridor. A bench headed by Justice Raghuvendra S Rathore issued the notice. Sehrawan is around 15km away along NH-8 from its current location at Kherki Daula.

NHAI officials said they will take time to file a reply to the petition, as the court had asked for a detailed reply. Ashok Sharma, GM (technical) and project director at NHAI Gurugram, said, “We’d filed an interim reply, but NGT wanted a detailed para-wise reply to the petition. We’ll file it as soon as possible.”

Environmentalists listed alternative sites that can be used for the toll plaza. “Rather than damaging forest area in the villages of Manesar, Sehrawan and Kakrola, there is land available near the existing toll plaza at Kherki Daula. In Bilaspur, around 7km from the proposed site at Manesar towards Jaipur, exists an abandoned toll plaza. There is no forest land in that area.”

In the petition filed in NGT, it’s mentioned that the proposed toll plaza would not require 65 acre as demanded.

“NHAI officials will only use 4-5 acre of land to build the toll plaza. What will they do with the rest? They must have plans for commercial activity in the rest of the land,” said Ram Avtar Yadav, petitioner and former sarpanch of Manesar village.