CHENNAI: The hearing on the Tiruvannamalai girivalam path widening case came to an end after a six-hour marathon session on Tuesday with the collector, residents and environmental activists arguing in support of and against the project.
The southern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) comprising judicial member Justice P Jyothimani and expert member PS Rao reserved orders without mentioning the date.
The opposition to the project began when the district administration decided to widen the girivalam path in Tiruvannamalai, considering the steep rise in devotees undertaking girivalam, a spiritual practice of taking a walk around the Arunachala Hills. However, the environmentalists and locals opposed the move which involved felling of a large number of trees.
The entire argument in the final hearing centered around the imminent drop in the count of trees that would have to be axed. The bench hinted about regulating the construction on the hillside, which green activists argued would degrade the sacred forests.
Initially, 125 fully-grown trees were proposed to be felled. The NGT-appointed expert committee comprising justice JAK Sampath Kumar, retired judge of the Madras High Court, and former PCCF T Sekar, came out with the final report, according to which felling of one Tamarind tree was allowed. But that was struck down by the bench following objections raised by petitioner’s counsel.
Agreeing to conserve the green cover, Tiruvanamalai collector Prashant M Wadnere, who appeared before the tribunal, said the paver blocks on the second, third and fourth stretches were essential for pilgrims’ safety and movement of emergency services. The State Highways
Department has also given an undertaking that no tree would be cut and the Sonagiri reserve forest would not be encroached upon for the project.
The 14-km Girivalam path is divided into five stretches, of which considerable area of two stretches, 1 and 5, falls under the municipality limits, while the remaining three are ecologically sensitive areas having rich vegetation.
Arguing against the need for paver blocks on the hillside, Petitioner Venkatesh Santhana’s counsel said with too many impediments all along, they were unnecessary. He cited the 2-km Hill Round Road (stretch 2) which has 7 impediments, including four temples and three kulams and thirtham as a case in point.
“Besides, there is a revenue forest for 350 metres in the stretch. The paver block does not serve any purpose. The administration has laid the paver blocks on the left side. The tiles only harm the pilgrims walking barefoot,” the petitioner’s counsel said.
Girivalam residents, who were present before the tribunal, raised objections to the alleged removal of herbal plants by the authorities. “There are some endemic species which have grown just few metres in about 50 years. The expert committee has not gone into these details,” Alagesan, a village leader, told the tribunal.
Refuting the claim, the collector said the expert panel found no rare medicinal plants in the project area.