NGT seeks Centre's reply on plea against Akshardham expansion

NEW DELHI: National Green Tribunal ( NGT) sought responses from the Centre and Delhi Development Authority ( DDA) on a plea challenging the environmental clearance granted for an expansion of the Akshardham Temple complex.

A bench headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar issued a notice for the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), DDA, State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), Yamuna River Development Authority and Bochasanwasi Sri Akshar Purshottam Sanstha, seeking their responses in the matter by December 10.

The order came on a plea by Manoj Mishra, a retired Indian Forest Service officer, who has opposed the clearance granted by SEIAA to Bochasanwasi Sri Akshar Purshottam Sanstha on July 30, 2013, for expansion of Akshardham, the temple located here along National Highway 24.

The petition, filed through advocate Rahul Choudhary, alleges that the clearance had not come prior to the start of construction work and was granted in violation of a 2006 Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification.

"Post facto environment clearance was granted to the project on July 30, 2013," the petition alleged.

It has also charged that the expansion was carried out by encroaching upon the floodplains of the Yamuna river.

Mishra has alleged that the expansion was being done despite an assurance by former environment minister Jairam Ramesh that the Yamuna river bed would be protected.

The expansion, once completed, will see the complex come to have a built-up area of over 25,000sq.m. It will be executed at a cost of around Rs 10 crore, the petition said.

Mishra has sought quashing of the environment clearance for the project along with the demolition of the illegal structure, which has been constructed so far, to restore the area to its original position.

He has also sought action against SEIAA and the proponent of the project for granting the post facto clearance and violating the provisions of the 2006 EIA notification, respectively.