23/09/2017
PUNE: The National
Green Tribunal (NGT), Pune bench, has proposed an inspection of the 1.7-km
stretch of the Mutha riverbed by a three-member expert panel to assess the
potential impact of construction of the Pune Metro Rail on the river's
eco-system and water.
While the Maharashstra Metro Rail Corporation Limited
(MahaMetro) has conveyed its opposition to such inspection, the bench will hold
a hearing on the proposal on October 10. The Supreme Court had on Monday held
that NGT can hear an application by architect Sarang Yadwadkar and others
challenging the Metro rail route alignment passing through a 1.7km river bed
stretch.
Following this, the matter came up for hearing before the
tribunal's bench of Justice U D Salvi and expert member B S Sajwan on Thursday.
Lawyer Saurabh Kulkarni, who is representing the project's consulting
agency Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, pitched in for both, MahaMetro
and Pune Municipal Corporation in the absence of their regular counsels.
"We have conveyed our opposition to the proposal for
inspection by an expert panel. The bench has adjourned the matter to October 10
when it will hear the proposal as well as the main application," Kulkarni
said.
Lawyer Asim Sarode, representing Yadwadkar and other
applicants, submitted that the applicants have no issues with such inspection.
"Even the Maharashtra Biodiversity Board has conveyed a positive
inclination towards such inspection," Sarode told pune-news.com.
"This is all the more crucial as the focus will be on the
impact of the project on the river's ecology and problems like water
pollution," he said, adding, "We also told the bench that the
applicants wanted to submit a couple of reports of the National Disaster
Management Authority and a Parliament Standing Committee on metro projects
in support of our case."
On August 29, the NGT passed an order dismissing the
MahaMetro's argument that the application was not maintainable before the green
tribunal. It held that the tribunal had a jurisdiction to entertain the case.
The MahaMetro has challenged the tribunal's order in the apex court.
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