THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The controversial Varkala Dakshin Kashi project, launched at the ancient Janardhana Swamy Temple under the Swadesh Darshan 2.0 scheme, has landed in legal trouble, with environmental activists filing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the High Court seeking its intervention.
The PIL highlights the archaeological and immense heritage value of the nearly 2,000-year-old Janardhana Swamy Temple and alleges that the project is causing damage to the temple. It further claims that public money is being wasted on a poorly planned project, executed without proper documentation or mandatory clearances from statutory authorities.
Sanjeev S J, president of the Environment Protection and Research Council (EPRC), said the project is being carried out without any scientific planning and with no regard for the temple’s heritage and archaeological significance. “The High Court has scheduled the hearing on January 5,” he said.
Earlier, the Varkala municipality had served two stop memos to the tourism department on September 25 and December 2, citing serious procedural lapses. These included the lack of approvals from the local body, the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority (KCZMA), the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) and the Geological Survey of India (GSI).
Despite the stop memos, the tourism department allegedly continued construction activities, including cliff cutting. “The district collector remains mum on the issue despite repeated complaints. A natural stream is also being destroyed as part of the project. The project has not received clearance from the municipality,” Sanjeev alleged, demanding that the works be halted immediately.
Following the tussle between the Varkala municipality and the tourism department over the implementation of the controversial Varkala Dakshin Kashi project, the municipality has asked the tourism authorities to submit all the documents required for getting the nod from the municipality.
Municipality authorities said the tourism department is yet to submit the complete documents. “The GSI has granted no objection certificate to the project. But the Tourism Department is yet to produce the documents on the ownership of the land where the project is coming up. Only after getting the documents will we be able to forward the application for the KCZMA clearance,” said G Mithran, secretary, Varkala municipality.