Rs 920 crore NGT fine: Telangana to move Supreme Court

HYDERABAD: A day after the National Green Tribunal (NGT) imposed a fine of 920 crore on Telangana for violations in Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme and Dindi irrigation project, the state has decided to appeal in the Supreme Court against the order, government sources said.
Special chief secretary Rajat Kumar held a review meeting with officials on Friday on NGT order and discussed about the future course of action. “We have received the NGT order and decided to take legal advice from additional advocate general on how to go about it. We will place the proposal before chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao,” Rajat Kumar told TOI.

Officials recalled that when NGT imposed a penalty on Purushottampatnam project in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, the state government got a stay order from the apex court.
Officials said the government got the approval for stage 1 clearances for Palamuru project and was waiting for stage 2 and hydrology reports.
“We have also discussed about presentation of detailed project reports to the Central Water Commission in Friday’s meeting,” Rajat Kumar said. Sources in CMO said NGT did not take the state’s arguments into consideration on both the lift irrigation projects.