BHUBANESWAR: Odisha government has scrapped the tender floated for construction of a high-level bridge over Mahanadi river near the ecologically-sensitive Satkosia Tiger Reserve.
The bridge plan was taken up without obtaining mandatory clearances from the statutory bodies of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). This newspaper had reported the story.
An official document of the Works department, accessed by The New Indian Express, said, “The project proposal will now be uploaded on the e-Parivesh portal for obtaining all necessary statutory clearances after which its execution will be taken up.”
Sources in the Works department said, the chief engineer, Bridges cancelled the March 28 tender citing that due procedure will be followed to obtain all statutory clearances required for its execution in the ecologically-sensitive area.
The bridge project had been planned to be executed at an investment of `131.51 crore to connect Narsinghpur-Baliput PWD road to Badmul, a scenic site located within Baisipalli wildlife sanctuary under Satkosia Tiger Reserve.
Though the bridge and its approach road fall within a few hundred metres of the core area of the tiger reserve, it was alleged that the government proceeded with the tender without obtaining necessary clearances from the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
Environmentalists and wildlife experts who raised objections had cautioned that the project could cause irreversible damage to the fragile ecosystem of Satkosia.
Meanwhile, in view of the sensitive nature of the proposed bridge over Chilika lake, the regional officer, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has intimated the Works department that they would appoint competent agencies to conduct studies and assessments, and comply with the terms of reference recommended by the MoEFCC under the provision of EAI notification 2006.
The 7.74-km project, estimated at a cost of around `526.08 crore, had prompted the expert appraisal committee (EAC) of MoEFCC to seek a cost-benefit analysis from the state government.
During a meeting in December last year, the EAC observed that around 3.4-km length of the proposed bridge falls under the draft eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) boundary of Nalabana (Chilika) Wildlife Sanctuary. It had sought clarification from NHAI for the necessity of constructing the bridge project at the site.
Department sources said the status of the Mahanadi bridge and Chilika bridge projects has been communicated to the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) that sought clarification from the government on both the matters recently.