Nagpur: The state environment department had 14 months ago asked Nagpur Metropolitan Region Development Authority (NMRDA), Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), and town planning department to inspect and submit some simple information related to Vidarbha Cricket Association’s (VCA)
Jamtha stadium. The inspection and report is still pending.
Activists Prashant Pawar, Ankita Shah and TH Naidu had lodged a complaint with MPCB, police department and other concerned departments for action against VCA in March 2016. Taking cognisance, MPCB regional office had sent a letter to its head office, recommending legal action against VCA in the same month. In the letter, MPCB had said the stadium lacks environment clearance and its ‘consent to operate’.
The MPCB’s consent appraisal committee is the authority to decide action on violators. The MPCB head office had asked the environment department whether the stadium requires environment clearance and consent to operate.
Accordingly, the environment department had on March 22, 2017, sent letters to NMRDA, MPCB and town planning department, asking for information related to exact built up area of the stadium including covered and un-covered portion. The department asked NMRDA commissioner, MPCB member secretary and assistant director of town planning (ADTP) for the inspection.
NMRDA sent a letter some days ago to the town planning department, seeking its time for joint inspection. Accordingly, the department on Tuesday sent a letter to NMRDA, asking its commissioner to finalize date and time for inspection.
“NMRDA commissioner is superior among the three officials, and asked for inspection. Therefore, we asked NMRDA commissioner to decide the date and time,” said an official from the town planning department.
Naidu raised questions about the 14-month delay by the departments. “It requires hardly one or two days to inspect and submit report. Also, all three departments have documents and data related to the stadium. All these departments, and also police, are not taking action against VCA despite many complaints. Our complaints are based on documents we collected under RTI Act. In fact, there was no need for MPCB and environment department to investigate whether clearance is required for the stadium or not. MPCB regional office had recommended action because the stadium lacks clearances,” he said.
