India News | NGT Grants Extension to Panel to Assess Damage Due to Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme

New Delhi, June 18 (PTI) The National Green Tribunal has granted 3-month extension to a committee formed to assess the damage caused due to Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) in Telangana.

The NGT had found that the KLIS Project had been executed in Telangana without prior Environmental Clearance (EC) and a joint Committee was directed to be constituted to examine the safeguards required and the manner of fixing accountability for such violations.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel noted that the Committee has been duly constituted and the work is in progress which will take time.

“We find that having regard to the urgency of the issue, the matter needs to be expedited. The progress so far does not appear to be adequate.

“Accordingly, while granting further extension of three months from today we expect that the Committee will complete its work expeditiously and not seek any further extension,” said the bench, also comprising Justices Sudhir Agarwal and M Sathyanarayanan.

The NGT had held in October last year that EC was granted to the KLIS project "ex post facto" in violation of legal requirements and formed a committee to assess the damage caused as also to suggest restoration measures.

It had directed the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to constitute the 7-member expert committee and suggest relief and rehabilitation measures to be adopted.

It had said the project had serious implication in terms of environment and it was never exclusively a water supply project.

The green panel had also directed the MoEF secretary concerned to monitor the progress and said the affected party will be at liberty to make representation to the ministry within three weeks putting forward suggestions and grievances, which may be taken into the account by Committee.

The tribunal's judgement had come on a plea filed by Telangana-based Mohammad Hayath Udin, who alleged that the construction of the scheme had begun without environmental and other statutory clearances.

The plea, filed through advocates Sanjay Upadhyay and Salik Shafique, had sought a ban on any non-forest activities such as felling of trees and blasting and tunnelling activities in the forest areas, which were in violation of the Forest Conservation Act.

Another plea was filed by Thummanapally Srinivas and others who had approached the NGT on the proposal and finalisation of tenders for the expansion of the project without obtaining EC with an estimated cost of Rs 21,000 crore.

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