CHENNAI: In a setback for Greater Chennai Corporation, a six-member bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) concluded that the ambitious Storm Water Drain (SWD) project proposed in the coastal areas of Kovalam basin, along the East Coast Road, has to be revisited. It cannot be built without obtaining Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance, the NGT said.
The city corporation last year began digging up stretches of sandy shore and pouring concrete, irking several resident owner associations, who moved NGT. The corporation claimed the construction does not require CRZ clearance.
Admitting the plea, the green bench had constituted a joint-committee headed by an official from the Union Environment Ministry to look into the project’s legality and environmental concerns raised by the residents. In its final report, the committee categorically said the SWD project has violated CRZ norms and some of the outfall locations fall within CRZ-1A, an ecologically sensitive area, where such construction is prohibited.
Tamil Nadu government has notified the beach from Kottivakkam to Kovalam as Olive Ridley Turtle nesting sites, which is CRZ-1A as per the Coastal Zone Management Plan. The NGT beach, headed by its chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, said, “The principle of ‘sustainable development’ requires all development activities must be undertaken in consistent with the environmental concerns.
We are in agreement with the expert committee view that the project needs to be revisited and can proceed only after requisite CRZ clearance. Construction of SWD in CRZ- I, which is an ecologically sensitive area, is not permitted.”
The NGT directed the State government and Chennai Corporation to revisit the project. “They are free to consider the views of IIT-Madras and other expert institutions like the Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore. In case it is decided to go ahead with the project with suitable changes, the Corporation may proceed further only after statutory CRZ clearance is granted,” the order reads.
The Coastal Zone Management Authority was asked to carefully appraise the revised project proposal before granting the post-facto CRZ clearance. “Further work may be undertaken only after a decision on revisiting the project is finalised and CRZ clearance is granted,” the bench said.
V Suresh, counsel for several resident welfare associations that challenged the project in NGT, told TNIE that the project cannot proceed further since there is no provision in the law to provide post-facto CRZ clearance. “The recent Union Environment Ministry’s office memorandum allowing post-facto CRZ clearance has been stayed by both Madras and Bombay High Courts.” A senior Chennai Corporation official maintained the SWD project was crucial for flood mitigation. “We will go through the NGT directions and see what best can be done.”