It is common knowledge that a bridge over a river will have an impact on the environment and the river system. It is also said that a bridge is nothing but a road over a river.
However, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) says the two are vastly different, and that while construction of a road requires prior environment clearance, a bridge does not need the same.
The argument was put forth by MoEF before the National Green Tribunal on Wednesday, wherein it said the under-construction 675-metre Signature Bridge across the Yamuna in Wazirabad to connect East and West Delhi does not require environmental clearance as it is a development project and not a physical infrastructure project like a road.
It relied on the Environment Impact Assessment Notification (EIA), 2006, which lists roads/ highways over 30-km as physical infrastructure project requiring environmental clearance under Schedule 7. Bridges, however, do not figure in the list. The Bench, comprising NGT Chairperson Swatanter Kumar, Justice Melath Sasidharan Nambiar and expert members Devendra Kumar Agrawal and Professor A.R. Yousuf, however, sought to know how a road can be separated from a bridge.
“If you have a 10-km road over a river, take any river...you cannot make any road without a bridge. Will not the bridge be part of the road? Think about it. What are you doing? How can you exclude bridges, we do not understand,” the Bench told the MoEF, clearly not convinced with the argument and posted the matter for January 19.
The NGT has been hearing a petition filed by environmental activist Vikrant Tongad praying for inclusion of the Signature Bridge under Schedule 8(a) or 8 (b) of EIA Notification, which covers buildings, construction and development projects.
“This bridge is such a massive project. Why should it not seek environmental clearance? An EIA has been conducted but as long as a clearance is not taken, there is no scope for the EIA report to be evaluated. It is just a document then,” he said.
Manoj Misra of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan said: “Our stand has always been that any structure on or along a river is going to materially impact the river system, like its channel, ability to distribute flood water, etc. The Signature Bridge is a pseudo bridge like a raised road over the lean season flow. It must undergo environmental clearance.”
The bow-shaped, cable-supported steel bridge — modelled on the London Bridge — is being built as a tourist spot in collaboration with Gammon and two firms from Italy and Brazil.
