The Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday restrained KGS International Airport Ltd. from setting up the proposed greenfield airport at Aranmula in Pathanamthitta district.
The Bench of judicial member Justice M. Chockalingam and expert member R. Nagendran passed the order on some petitions from the Aranmula Heritage Village Action Council and others.
The Bench observed that the consultant, Enviro Care India Private Ltd, was not competent to prepare the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report or appear before the Environment Assessment Committee in respect of the airport project.
The tribunal held that a public hearing conducted for the proposed airport was in violation of the mandatory provisions under the EIA Notifications, 2006.
The recommendations of the Environment Assessment Committee of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest for grant of Environment Clearance (EC) in respect of the project had been violated. The EC granted by the Union Ministry on November 18, 2013 was set aside and consequently the project proponent, KGS International Airport Ltd., was restrained from carrying out any activities
Satyagraha withdrawnAranmula Heritage Village Action Council leader Kummanam Rajashekharan said the council decided to withdraw the 107-day-old indefinite satyagraha at Aranmula on Wednesday afternoon in the wake of the National Green Tribunal judgement against the airport project.
However, the agitation would continue till the illegally converted paddy land was reconverted to its original status, he added.
In a statement here, the anti-airport co-ordination committee urged the government to cancel the clearances granted by the Defence as well as the Civil Aviation Ministries for the project.
