Vadodara: The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) may have decided against going ahead with the Vishwamitri Riverfront Development Project (VRDP) in the present format after concerns raised over its environmental impact on the river.However, environment activists from the city are in no mood to spare the civic body. A group of activists and concerned citizens led by Rohit Prajapati has demanded judicial inquiry into the riverfront project and its subsequent withdrawal.Prajapati and over three dozen citizens have written to the state government and State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and demanded independent judicial inquiry by a retired high court judge. “An inquiry has to be done as to how the Vishwamitri Riverfront’s environment clearance application was drafted and why it was withdrawn later,” Prajapati told TOI.“The civic body didn’t just spend public money on the project but there was environmental damage along the river. VMC has to be held accountable for this. And based on the inquiry report, we have demanded exemplary action against all the concerned officials of the VMC and its consultants,” he said and added that they want to set an example so that the civic officials don’t take up such projects without proper environmental impact studies.The riverfront project was conceived in 2008 and a feasibility report was prepared by a private consultant in 2014. The VMC then approached SEIAA for environment clearance in November 2015. After SEIAA raised queries about some shortcomings in the proposal, the VMC resubmitted and accepted in December 2015. Prajapati, however, approached the National Green Tribunal (NGT), Pune in 2016 and questioned the project and said that some of the activities proposed by VMC were illegal as the civic body hadn’t taken environment clearance before commencing with the project.In May 2016, the NGT put an interim stay on the any construction in the VRDP area and in July the tribunal asked SEIAA and district collector to jointly inspect the area. But in July 2016, the VMC sought to withdraw its environmental clearance application by stating that it wasn’t in order. The civic body had stated that the environment clearance application seemed to be made in haste and clearly at a premature stage.“The civic body and the consultant it hired should have done due diligence before going ahead with the project, especially because a large number of crocodiles, listed under Schedule I species, stay in this river. Hence we decided to seek action against the erring officials and the consultant,” Prajapati said.

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