HYDERABAD: Environmentalists who took up cudgels against the state government for its plan of building six interchange flyovers at KBR National park, have now pitched up their fight against the underground tunnel proposed by GHMC underneath the park.
In a letter to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests RM Dobriyal, environment activist Donthi Narasimha Reddy and others opposed the underground tunnel which they said was intended to benefit 10,000 luxury cars in utter disregard to the incalculable harm the government was doing to the environment.
“The GHMC is planning to build a road tunnel underneath the KBR Park. It has already declared that this tunnel is safe for KBR park and its environment, flora, and fauna without even doing an impact assessment. It has floated a tender requesting firms to study feasibility. We strongly object to this,” they said. The other signatories to the letter were Kajall Maheshwari, Major Sandeep Khurana, Sreeharsha, Sriparna, and Ambica Srimal.
They object to the feasibility study itself as it would entail removal of trees, drilling a multitude of holes, heavy vehicles movement deep inside the park, frequent and noisy human movement disturbing ecology, letting out emissions and increasing dust pollution.
“Tender notification gives a map and the alignment of the 10km road tunnel. The feasibility study itself is a major threat to the park. The road tunnel project, if constructed, can destroy it further. The notification should be withdrawn immediately and contracts had already been awarded, they should be cancelled forthwith,” they demanded.
They further asked the forest department to commission a study of environmental assessment of KBR Park with terms of reference that include the impact of concretisation, continuous vehicular movement, air pollution, and rumblings from human-related activities in a five km radius.
Govt cares for luxury cars, allege activists
In a letter to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests RM Dobriyal, environment activist Donthi Narasimha Reddy and others opposed the underground tunnel which they said was intended to benefit 10,000 luxury cars in utter disregard to the incalculable harm the environment