CHENNAI: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has halted the highway expansion project between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu as the construction would potentially harm critical elephant corridor and seven lakes in and around Hosur in Krishnagiri district.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has proposed to widen NH-844 from Neraluru in Bengaluru to Adhiyamankottai near Dharmapuri as an alternative to 'congested' NH-44, which connects Bengaluru and Dharmapuri.
However, the proposal drew flak from environmentalists. S Mathivanan, a resident of Hosur, has petitioned the green tribunal alleging the project violates environmental norms and eat into reserve forests of Sanamavu, an elephant corridor and Gummanuru, besides degrading water bodies.
The tribunal had sought a factual report from Tamil Nadu State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), Chief Wildlife Warden, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) and Regional Office of Union Environment Ministry in Bengaluru.
Accordingly, the committee submitted its report based on site visit and has categorically recommended against highway widening in original form. "It would be appropriate to change alignment to avoid water
bodies as the proposed road passes in the middle of the water bodies and there will be disturbances/impacts.... As per the suggestion given in the "Eco-friendly Measures to Mitigate Impacts of Linear Infrastructure on Wild Life" it is appropriate for NHAI to propose 1 km flyover for the entire stretch of sanamavu reserve forest,” the report says.
Also, the committee has countered the NHAI argument that the project does not attract Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006 claiming the total length of the proposed widening was less than 100 km (95 km). "The proposed project also involves construction of green field road for a length of about 15 km from Neralur before it joins the existing roads. According to the EIA notification, 2006 and its amendments, construction of New National Highways require prior Environment clearance from Union Environment Ministry," the report said.
Following committee's recommendations, the NGT principal bench, comprising of its chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, Justice SP Wangi, Justice K Ramakrishnan and expert member Nagin Nanda, directed NHAI to change the alignment to avoid loss to water bodies, apart from taking eco-friendly measures in mitigating impact on wildlife by constructing flyover on the stretch of the reserved forest. "The SEIAA may ensure compliance of the recommendations.".