CHENNAI: The controversial storm water drain (SWD) project along East Coast Road has come to a grinding halt at least till March first week with the Greater Chennai Corporation giving an undertaking before the southern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that it will not proceed with construction work until the project's legality is decided by the tribunal.
Senior counsel and former advocate general AL Somayaji, representing Chennai Corporation, has given the undertaking, which was recorded by the tribunal. Additionally, the bench has recorded that in view of the "Stop Work Order" of Tamil Nadu Coastal Zone Management Authority dated December 23, 2020, a copy of which was given to the corporation during the hearing of the NGT appointed joint committee on December 28, 2020, and the undertaking given by the corporation not to continue SWD work till the NGT had finally decided all the petitions, "there is no need for a separate stay order." The NGT bench comprised judicial member justice K Ramakrishnan and expert member Saibal Dasgupta.
The tribunal has also expanded the scope of the joint committee and directed it to determine whether the corporation continued construction even after the stop work order of December 23. "We had argued that they had continued. The tribunal has permitted us to submit copies of our complaints/representation etc to the committee to establish how the corporation indeed continued work after the order as recent as January 4," said V Suresh, counsel for several resident welfare associations that challenged the project in NGT, to The New Indian Express.
Somayaji attempted to argue that the corporation did not "continue construction" but were "bending the rods and pouring concrete" for "public safety" since pits had been dug. "We pointed out how this, in effect, was continuing with construction after the Stop Work order. Also that actual construction was going on and not just "protection" work. The tribunal said they will go into this once the committee files its final report," Suresh said.
The NGT recorded that the committee had filed its interim report where the committee found that prima facie, the corporation needed Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Clearance and didn't obtain it. For the final report, the committee was to superimpose the design on the Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) maps and conclusively state whether the project fell in CRZ since this report is technically an "interim report".
The NGT reiterated its direction to the committee to also determine the environmental compensation that would need to be imposed if it ultimately held that the project is illegal. The next date of hearing was scheduled on March 2 by which time all the reports have to be filed.
The German Development Ministry, based on complaints from a group of MPs from the German Parliament, has ordered a fresh independent assessment over alleged CRZ violations and the project's alleged impact on turtle nesting grounds. German Development Bank (KfW), which is funding the SWD project, has also taken a decision not to make any further payments until clarification is received.