VIJAYAWADA: Noting that the adverse impacts caused due to construction of Pattiseema and Purushottapatnam lift irrigation schemes were “largely restricted” to construction stage and subsequently “nullified”, the expert committee constituted by the National Green Tribunal to assess the environmental damage said there was no requirement of any remediation as no specific serious damage to environment or to people was observed.
However, the committee recommended that Rs 1.9 crore and Rs 2.48 crore be paid as environment compensation by the project proponent to the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) for violations during the execution of Pattiseema and Purushottam lift schemes respectively. According to the reports submitted to the Tribunal, the committee concluded and recommended to submit the detailed project reports of both the schemes to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest, Central Water Commission and Godavari Water Disputes Tribunal for appraisal and post facto statutory clearances.
After recommending environmental compensation to be paid to the APPCB, the committee, in its reports, noted that the project proponent had also made adequate arrangements to prevent incidence of any endemic health problems as well. “The committee has calculated the environmental compensation by considering various impacts arising out of the project, by using satellite images, physical inspection of the area and verification of records. There are no specific affected group of people due to project,” the reports said. For the record, the committee was constituted as per the orders of the NGT last year with respect to the petitions filed by Vatti Vasanth Kumar and Jammula Choudaraiah to assess the damages caused due to the lift irrigation schemes which were executed without obtaining prior environmental clearance.