BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court dismissed a PIL filed by the United Conservation Movement Charitable and Welfare Trust challenging the widening of NH-766E from Sirsi to Kumta in Uttara Kannada district, under the Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase-1.
Contending that the road passes near the northern boundary of a lion-tailed macaque sanctuary for 0.95 km, the petitioner prayed that NHAI be restrained from carrying out widening work. They also sought that NHAI be prohibited from axing trees.
“The project length is less than 100 km and the additional right of way is less than 40 meters. As widening is in the larger public interest, no case for interference in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case is made out in the matter,” the court noted.