Officials told not to precipitate issues in expressway project

  • | Friday | 21st September, 2018

The Madras High Court on Thursday ordered that government officials should not precipitate issues related to the proposed Chennai-Salem greenfield expressway. The Cauvery North Wildlife Sanctuary in Dharmapuri district was situated 66.16 km away, he said. ‘No threat to wildlife’In his submissions, Advocate General Vijay Narayan told the court that there was no impediment in implementing the project from the point of wildlife, since the Vedanthangal as well as Karikili bird sanctuaries were situated far away from the proposed expressway. The order was passed after it was brought to the notice of the court that police had arrested locals who had arranged for activist Yogendra Yadav’s visit to Salem recently. The A-G told the court that efforts were under way to obtain the cancellation of bail got by two people accused of having cut 109 trees on the proposed route in the guise of removing few wind fallen trees.

more-in The Madras High Court on Thursday ordered that government officials should not precipitate issues related to the proposed Chennai-Salem greenfield expressway. The order was passed after it was brought to the notice of the court that police had arrested locals who had arranged for activist Yogendra Yadav’s visit to Salem recently. Justices T.S. Sivagnanam and V. Bhavani Subbaroyan asked Additional Solicitor General G. Rajagopalan to verify the authenticity of an e-mail received by PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss’ counsel K. Balu from an undisclosed source stating that the Centre might soon conduct a comprehensive socio-economic assessment. The e-mail stated that an Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had recommended a comprehensive study on the impact of the land acquisition on the local populace, especially in the light of various representations submitted by them to various authorities opposing the acquisition process. “If it is true that a comprehensive socio-economic assessment will be conducted before commencing the project then there may not be any necessity to decide the cases before us,” Mr. Justice Sivagnanam told the ASG, who sought time till Monday to find out whether any such recommendation had been made by the EAC to the Ministry. ‘No threat to wildlife’ In his submissions, Advocate General Vijay Narayan told the court that there was no impediment in implementing the project from the point of wildlife, since the Vedanthangal as well as Karikili bird sanctuaries were situated far away from the proposed expressway. The Cauvery North Wildlife Sanctuary in Dharmapuri district was situated 66.16 km away, he said. He brought it to the notice of the court that out of the total 272 km, only 7.445 km would be passing through a reserve forest area and it would take about eight months to get clearance from various authorities, including a Central Empowered Committee appointed by the Supreme Court in the famous T.N. Godavarman case. The A-G told the court that efforts were under way to obtain the cancellation of bail got by two people accused of having cut 109 trees on the proposed route in the guise of removing few wind fallen trees.

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