In a setback to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah led Congress Government in Karnataka which is in a hurry to construct a steel flyover, the National Green Tribunal ordered an interim injunction of four weeks on this controversial project.
The tribunal seeks the State to file a detailed environmental impact assessment before going ahead with the work. While staying the construction, the Southern Bench of the NGT in Chennai also issued notices to the Bengaluru Development Authority and Karnataka State Pollution Control Board. The petition was filed by the Citizen Action Forum.
The petitioner claimed before a Bench comprising Justice MS Nambiar and expert member PS Rao that the project would result in the felling of 800 trees. Two Bengalureans who petitioned the NGT are N Mukund from Citizen Action Forum and V Balasubramanyam, former Additional Chief Secretary in the State.
The `1,791 crore steel flyover project between Basaveshwara circle and Hebaal to connect the airport road by the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) has been mired with controversies. The project strongly backed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Bengaluru Development Minister KJ George has been facing stiff resistance.
The order of the Green Tribunal comes the day after Bengaluru Development Authority issued a letter of acceptance to the contractor indicating that work could begin next week. The BDA proposes to construct a 6.72 kilometre long 6 lane steel flyover.
Union Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation, DV Sadananda Gowda, said that the Karnataka Government should clear doubts of the public, which has been divided over the massive project.
Addressing a Press Conference in Bengaluru he said “The State Government should clear all the doubts instead of becoming impatient over the opposition to the proposed steel flyover. Minister for Bengaluru Development and Town Planning KJ George had arranged a meeting to explain to me about the steel flyover. I had asked him to clear the doubts such as cost escalation, ecology issues, toll and the fate of the amount paid as VAT”.
“I don’t know why the State Government is silent on around `200 crore included as a VAT in the project cost. It should tell the people of Bengaluru that the amount would be paid to the State Government by the contractor of the project,” Sadananda Gowda added.
NGOs and other civilians have been protesting against the construction of the flyover as they believe that it will be harmful to the environment. The citizens had met Governor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala seeking cancellation of the tender to larsen & Toubro, who have been given the contract to construct the flyover.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, a Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka who is protesting the construction of steel flyover said the order of the Tribunal opens the door to a detailed scrutiny of the environmental impact of Government’s action on the steel flyover project.