Insisting that mangroves provide essential ecosystem services for flood protection in coastal areas, the National Green Tribunal has ordered the demolition of a hotel constructed in Sundarbans in West Bengal over a violation of environmental norms.
The Principal Bench of the NGT, headed by its Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, passed this order. The bench was hearing a matter pertaining to the permissibility of hotel construction in Sundarbans, for which the West Bengal State Coastal Zone Management Authority (WBCZMA) had raised objections.
"Mangroves... provide important ecosystem services for flood protection in coastal areas and also benefit the region economically, and construction of concrete structures near the coast changes its geological characteristics and causes irreversible damage to the mangrove ecosystem," the NGT said.
The Sundarbans are a critically vulnerable coastal area (CVCA) under the coastal regulation zone notifications, and no construction was permissible in a CVCA. Sundarbans, which is densely covered by mangrove forests, is one of the largest reserves for the Bengal tiger, houses a large variety of birds, reptiles and invertebrate species, including the saltwater crocodile. The Sundarbans has been declared as a national park, and it is also a Unesco World Heritage Site, and a designated Ramsar site (sic)," the order said.
The bench noted that mangroves protect life and property by obstructing strong winds and tidal actions.
The green panel also said there was an apprehension of areas close to the sea being affected by climate change, so a suitable distance must be maintained from the sea for any construction.
The NGT also said that the Supreme Court's judgement in 1996 had disapproved the reduction of no construction zone from 100 metres to 50 metres, regarding ecological consideration for the protection of the coastal area.
(Published 19 February 2023, 08:37 IST)
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