An image of a paper written penalty on it.
Credit: iStock
Bengaluru: Two development projects in Karnataka have been penalised by the central environment authorities for allegedly undertaking works within forest areas without the necessary clearances, sending a clear message against unauthorised works.
The first project proposed by the regional office of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) sought the diversion of 10.24 acres of forest in the Bagalkot district. The work, related to widening of a section of the NH 367, was awarded to Sai Samarth Engineering Pvt Ltd, a Pune-based company.
While the proposal was being made, the company undertook work on approximately two acres of forest without obtaining the necessary clearances. The Forest Department registered a case and stopped the work.
Due to the violation, the MoRTH regional office had to seek regularisation by requesting an ex post facto approval for the project.
The Forest Advisory Committee, which looked into the proposal, took note of the submission that the contractor had “unknowingly and unintentionally” taken up the work in the forest adjacent to the non-forest land where work was in progress.
While recommending the project, the committee asked the user agency to pay five times the net present value and added that a decision on penal compensatory afforestation (CA) will also be taken.
In the second case, the Banavadi Gram Panchayat in Magadi Taluk had also filed an application for ex post facto clearance for works taken up in one acre of land for the construction of an approach road, pump house, pipeline and cables to Kanchugal Muneshwara Swami Temple.
The panbel deliberated on the proposal and noted that the temple was recognised as an enclosure in the 1907 notification.
However, the works taken up in the surrounding forest area lacked clearance. The committee recommended the project by imposing similar penal conditions.