Notice to Mundra for flouting laws

The Union environment ministry on December 15 issued a show cause notice to the Adani group promoted Mundra SEZ and Port in Gujarat. The ministry has asked the company to reply within 15 days as to why the clearances given to it for developing the port and a township should not be cancelled for environmental and coastal destruction. The ministry has charged the company with destruction of mangroves, reclamation of land and filling up of creeks without obtaining the mandatory clearance under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification of 1991.

Letters

WHAT WILL DEER EAT?

Near ready for take-off

The Union environment ministry is all set to approve the Navi Mumbai international airport. The ministry’s Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) recommended clearance to the airport on November 10 subject to conditions.

Push for sand mining

Sand dredgers will soon be back in business along the Bankot creek bordering coastal Raigad and Ratnagiri districts in Maharashtra. They had been silent for over a month after the Bombay High Court banned sand mining in the state on September 24, after people who mine sand manually filed a petition. “A month ago, it was impossible to stand near the dredging site because of the noise,” said Anis Jalal, president of Sagar Shramik Haat Pati Vaalu Utpadak Sahakari Sanstha, a union of manual excavators. A new policy of the state okays mechanical dredging.

More hurdles for Navi Mumbai airport

The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Ministry of Environment and Forest has asked the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO) to re-examine the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report of the proposed airport in Navi Mumbai. It has also asked CIDCO to conduct fresh studies on the suitability of alternative sites.

Public dissent

PUBLIC hearing for two projects promoted by the Adani group in Gujarat’s Kachchh district were held amid loud protests. Villagers and fishers were angry about the scheduling of the hearings for the Mundra Port and its special economic zone and a power plant on two consecutive days—October 5 and 6.

Stadium in deep water

THE Kerala Cricket Association’s plan to build a stadium designed to international specifications at Edakochi has run afoul of environmental laws. The state forest department has filed a first information report in a magistrate’s court saying the cricket association (KCA) has destroyed mangrove trees in preparation for the construction work.

Dhamra port on mangrove land

THE Supreme Court’s Central Empowered Committee (CEC) has cleared the way for Dhamra port in Odisha. It did so by overruling a site inspection report of the eastern regional office of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests on August 17. Interpreting a state government notification in favour of the Tata-sponsored Rs 3,200 crore project, CEC recommended to the apex court that the port area be treated as non-forest land.

Oh dear!

The conservation broth has got eager hands to stir it. Some throw in extra spices to experiment with the taste. But that sometimes spoils the broth. For instance, the forest department’s prescription to tackle the dearth of prey base for tigers in the Sunderbans: release deer in the mangroves.

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