NGT refuses to stay Palamuru-RR lift scheme

Green tribunal posts next hearing for March 15

February 18, 2017 01:12 am | Updated 01:12 am IST - Hyderabad

The Telangana government has submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Southern Zone at Chennai that the ongoing works of Palamuru-Ranga Reddy Lift Irrigation Scheme will be utilised for only drinking water needs and not for irrigation purposes as complained in the petition filed before it.

During the hearing on the petition filed by one B. Harsha Vardhan alleging that the State government was executing the irrigation project without obtaining environmental clearances and destroying flora fauna in the process, counsel for Telangana Mohan Parasaran and Additional Advocate General J. Ramachandra Rao explained to the court headed by Justice M.S. Nambiar and comprising expert member P.S. Rao that the first phase works of the project would be purely utilised for drinking water purposes.

Clearances not taken

An affidavit was also submitted to the court by the State Government stating that necessary clearances from the Ministry of Environment and Forests and other departments would be obtained before taking up the works meant for irrigation purposes.

The counsel told the court on Friday that the construction of irrigation canals would be taken up only after getting necessary clearances.

Govt gives assurance

Chief Engineer of the project V. Linga Raju stated that the court had taken the affidavit and assurance of the State Government given through its counsel into consideration and had observed that there was no problem for carrying on ongoing works.

The court did not grant stay on works as appealed for by the counsel for the petitioner.

The court posted the next hearing in the case to March 15. Special Chief Secretary (Irrigation) S.K. Joshi also went to Chennai for coordinating the arguments on behalf of the State Government.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.