Taking refuge behind a technicality, the Capital Area Development Authority (CRDA) has argued that it has not sought environmental clearance for its Amaravati project because the time for seeking it has not yet come.
Filing a counter-affidavit in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on a petition filed by activist Pandalaneni Srimannarayana challenging the capital city project on environmental grounds, CRDA commissioner for N. Srikanth has argued that environment clearance will only be obtained when all the details of a project have been worked.
Since the capital project is presently in the land acquisition stage, no prior environmental clearance was required at this juncture, he said in the affidavit, a copy of which is with The Hindu .
The affidavit says green clearance is required to be obtained only once all the details of a proposed project have been worked out. That would be done “only once the plan for construction has been concretised and worked out to the last detail.”
The affidavit say that in the case of the Amaravati project, the process of securing the land was still underway, the proposed mater plan has been made available to the public and is still under examination by the State Government.
‘No threat to
food security’
All the same, the affidavit denies that the future capital is being sought to be built in an earthquake-prone zone or that it would affected food security in anyway.
Since the capital project is presently in the land acquisition stage, no prior environmental clearance is required at this juncture, says the counter-affidavit filed by CRDA Commissioner
N. Srikant
