The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday said there was no need to entertain a PIL petition against greenfield highway stretch between Nellyadi and Mudigere Handpost as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) told the court that the detailed project report for this stretch of the highway widening and development project was kept in abeyance in March 2019.
The NHAI has submitted to the court a communication, dated March 13, 2019, in which it had decided to keep in abeyance the detailed project report on the proposal to widen the Nellyadi and Mudigere Handpost stretch, which is one of the four stretches of NH-173 connecting Chitradurga and Mangaluru taken up for development in four packages under the greenfield highway project.
It was noted in the NHAI’s communication that the proposed stretch between Nellyadi and Mudigere Handpost passes through 25 km of virgin ghat section, and representatives of wildlife board had raised the issue of the road alignment intersecting elephant corridors.
The NHAI, while taking note of objections and concerns expressed during public consultation held in Mudigere by NGOs and environmentalists on projects impacting biodiversity, had decided to review this stretch after completion of priority stretches. The NHAI has also stated in its statement that only 7.95 hectares of forest diversion was proposed for this stretch while denying the allegation made in the petition that diversion of more than 60 hectares of forest was sought for.
In his petition filed in November 2019, Vinay Madhav, a native of Makonahalli in Mudigere taluk, claimed that the construction of highway in Nellyadi-Mudigere Handpost was planned without obtaining clearances under the Forest (Conservation) Act. And the Court has passed an interim order asking the NHAI not to commence actual construction without the prior permission of the court.
While declining to entertain the petition as the DPR of this stretch was kept in abeyance, a Division Bench disposed of the petition while asking the NHAI to send a communication to the petitioner if it continued the project while reserving liberty to the petitioner to approach the court again.
Meanwhile, the Bench decided to continue another PIL petition, in which certain challenges were made to the remaining three packages of development of NH-173 while ordering issue of notice to the NHAI.