VIJAYAWADA: The Southern Zone Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) slapped a fine of Rs 100 crore on the Water Resources Department (WRD) of the State government and set aside the Environmental Clearance (EC) granted by the State-Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) of Andhra Pradesh for the construction of the Avulapalli Balancing Reservoir.
The Tribunal said the WRD attempted to secure a No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the Avulapalli Balancing Reservoir in Chittoor district by ‘misrepresenting and cheating’ the SEIAA.
The Water Resources Department was asked to pay the penalty to the Krishna River Water Management Board (KRMB). The fine would be utilised for pollution abatement in the River Krishna.
The NGT also ordered the State government to immediately stop project works in Avulapalli, Mudivedu and Nethiguntapalli Balancing Reservoirs in Chittoor.
The NGT said a committee, comprising the senior-most scientist from the regional office of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) in Vijayawada and two senior engineers each from the Central Pollution Control Bureau (CPCB) and KRMB, would be constituted to assess the environmental damage caused and arrive at the environmental compensation to be levied on the State Water Resources Department.
The petitioners, residents of Somala mandal in Chittoor district, approached the NGT stating that the Avulapalli Reservoir was proposed to create a new command area of 40,000 acres, apart from the 20,000 acres of the existing ayacut by storing 3.5 TMC water from Galeru Nagar Sujala Sravanthi (GNSS) Scheme.
‘Extremely disturbing to note AP govt violating laws’
The petitioners said the environmental clearance was given by the SEIAA ‘without application of mind’ and based on the misrepresentation of facts by the WRD. The applicants told the Tribunal that the EC was obtained only for Avulapalli Balancing Reservoir which has a capacity of 2.5 TMC, but the the government, later on, issued orders proposing three reservoirs linking GNSS and Handri Neeva Srujala Sravanthi (HNSS).
The NGT said the Water Resources Department concealed information, furnished false information, did not provide details regarding the different phases of the project and did not even mention that the reservoir was for storing 3.5 TMC water.
Further, the Tribunal observed that the failure to seek required information reveals that there was no application of mind on the part of SEIAA-AP. “The adverse inference has to be drawn that it (SEIAA-AP) was too eager to grant the EC, without conducting a detailed scrutiny of the DPR,” the NGT noted.
“It is extremely disturbing to note that a government department, in gross violation of the environmental laws, can go to the extent of implementing an irrigation project by resorting to falsehood, misrepresentation and cheating the SEIAA. If the government department can stoop to such levels, nothing can prevent an agency with commercial gains to split the project into different phases to avoid EC,” the Tribunal observed in its order.
The NGT also expressed its displeasure over the mechanical manner in which the State Expert Appraisal Committee-Andhra Pradesh (SEAC-AP) and SEIAA casually scrutinised the proposals without seeking required details to give an EC. The Tribunal pointed out that the SEIAA showed a tendency to trust the information provided by the project proponent without exercising due diligence and critically scrutinising the State Government projects.
Further, the petitioners also submitted before the Tribunal that the forest lands were taken without impact assessment on the environment and eco-sensitive zone. They alleged that the department had not obtained clearances from the National Commission of Seismic Design Parameters (NCSDP) and Centre Water Commission, New Delhi.
The Tribunal also recommended that the MoEF&CC order an enquiry to identify the officer of SEIAA-AP who issued the EC and the officers of the WRD who submitted the fabricated documents to the SEIAA-AP. It also suggested for a probe to be conducted to ascertain whether there was any collusion between the officers to falsify the reports.