Moef wants expert body to evaluate environmental plan for Noida park…………Dhananjay Mahapatra
NEW DELHI: A last minute change in the stand of the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) on Tuesday put paid to any hope of the Mayawati government for the early unveiling of the statues of dalit icons in the Rs 685 crore Noida Park project, where work was stayed by the Supreme Court over nine months ago.
Call it politics, as Mayawati government is no longer in the good books of UPA government, or zealous environmental concerns, the MoEF effected last minute changes in its affidavit, in which it had virtually agreed to allow completion of the almost-completed Noida Park project after making the UP government authorities adhere to stringent environmental conditions.
However, the affidavit was virtually pulled back and changed at the last minute. A fresh one was filed seeking more time for a thorough evaluation of three reports of expert bodies — Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History and Acharya N G Ranga Agriculture University, Wildlife Institute of India and IIT Delhi — and suggest the future course of action.
The MoEF standing counsel Harish Beeran, who filed the affidavit, said he was not aware of any last minute change in the stand of the ministry. The MoEF said its Expert Appraisal Committee reviewed the reports on June 28 and 29 and felt that given the complex nature of the project and its impact on the surrounding bio-diversity as well as its proximity to the Okhla Bird Sanctuary, these reports needed to be vetted by an appropriate body possessing requisite expertise, particularly in the field of wildlife preservation and biodiversity.
The Forest Bench comprising Chief Justice S H Kapadia and Justices Aftab Alam and K S Radhakrishnan had on Friday told the counsel for MoEF and the UP government that it would like to take up the stalled Noida Park project case on a priority basis and fixed July 23 for hearing.
But, with the MoEF changing its stand, the statues, which have been covered by veils for the last nine months, will take some more time to shed them. Meanwhile, the UP government would have to continue spending Rs 3 lakh per day, as had been claimed by it on January 15 this year, for the upkeep of the underconstruction project site. It had said that 80% of the construction was over and that it would abide by any condition to get the project completed.
Taking a serious view of the Central Empowered Committee’s finding that the project did not have proper environmental clearance from MoEF, the apex court had on October 9 last year stayed construction work at the park, which is spread over 75 acres of green cover earlier comprising the Nandan Kanan Park, Nature’s Trail, Children’s Park, Smriti Van and Navgrah Park.
The CEC after a site inspection on August 9 last year had given a report to the apex court saying a project of this nature mandatorily required environmental clearance from MoEF and recommended that no further work should be carried out till it got the green light from the ministry.
“If the project is found by the MoEF to be environmentally viable, it may allow the project subject to appropriate safeguards/conditions. This will also imply that pending the environmental clearance, no further work should be carried out,” it had said in its 39-page report to the SC.