The Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal has set up a joint committee to probe whether Kochi Metro Rail Ltd. (KMRL) has encroached upon the Vembanad backwaters as part of the Kochi Water Metro project.
The committee was constituted on the basis of an application alleging reclamation of the backwaters for construction work of the High Court terminal, which is not permissible under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification and done without getting proper clearance, as per the petitioner.
The joint committee included senior officers from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Regional Office, Chennai; Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority; and an officer from the Marine Division of the National Centre for Earth Science Studies, Thiruvananthapuram. The team will inspect the area and submit a factual and action taken report, if they come across violations, according to the order issued by the Bench comprising Justice K. Ramakrishnan, and Satyagopal Korlapati, expert member.
The applicant alleged that the construction work encroaching upon the backwaters cannot be treated as a foreshore facility like jetty. They [Kochi Metro Rail] can make construction towards the land side and not towards the backwater side. Vembanad backwaters is being reclaimed in the disputed area and the proponents are trying to construct bridges, which will have an impact on the entire marine ecology, it said.
The tribunal has asked the joint committee to ascertain whether there is any violation of the environmental and coastal zone clearances granted to the KMRL.
Mandate for team
The experts will have to check whether the company has suppressed any material fact to get the project clearance. The team should also ascertain whether the proposed activity is permissible in the area as per the CRZ notification, 2011. The Bench said that the joint committee can assess the damage, if any, caused to the environment on account of the activity and the cost required for restoration of the damage caused. The Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority will be the nodal agency for co-ordinating the inspection process. The construction activities made by the KMRL in the disputed area will be subject to the final outcome of the original application. The committee has been told to submit an interim report, if it is not able to come up with a final one, at the next hearing scheduled on April 21.
While The Hindu tried to seek the response of Kochi Metro Rail Ltd officials, they chose to be evasive.
