Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary. Photo credit: Tejalee |Wikimedia
Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh): The Joint Committee appointed by the Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal to ascertain violation in the cutting and removal of mangroves in the proposed housing project of the Government of Andhra Pradesh has confirmed that as much as 30% of the area having mangroves have been destroyed by the project.
The Committee has also observed that the land has been levelled and additional soil gravel from outside the area has now changed the texture of the mud and due to the levelling, the flow of the stream has been obstructed.
The Committee has expressly concluded that no construction of such projects can be permitted in CRZ-I area, which is the current categorization of the said area. The District Administration has also informed that they have initiated the process of changing the CRZ category from CRZ-IA to CRZ-II.
A petition in this regard was filed before the NGT by environmental activist Satyanarayana Bolisetty. In a hearing on March 18, it was argued by the Applicant’s Counsel, Sanjay Upadhyay, that there is no process known to law which can convert a natural categorization to another category, such as CRZ-II under the CRZ Notification. The Tribunal had directed the authorities to assess the environment compensation for the huge destruction caused in the area. The Tribunal had also asked the Committee to examine the destruction by way of satellite maps and the Committee found that destruction had occurred in the green cover. The temporal map of 2005 and 2019 clearly revealed the green patches earlier, which had now been destroyed. The Committee also noted that no CRZ Clearance had been obtained till date.
The petitioner, Bolisetty, has also sought time to make certain observations on the Committee report which has now categorically stated that the district administration should not proceed with the construction till the necessary permissions are obtained. The Committee has also recommended that mangrove plantations be carried on by the District Administration adjacent to the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary as a compensatory measure. Bolisetty said that the verdict was a vindication of his averments for which the State had always been in the denial.
– global bihari bureau
