Believe It Or Not, Environment Report For South Delhi's Housing Project Was Cut & Paste Job

Last month thousands of trees in Delhi were cut and many more thousands were marked to be cut in South Delhi for the redevelopment of seven colonies. Apparently, the clearance for the project was given based on wrong information.

BCCL

Gautam Bhan, an urban planning expert and amicus curiae, told a bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V. Kameswar Rao that the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the Nauroji Nagar project was copy-pasted from an EIA report seeking clearance for a Tamil Nadu mine.

Bhan in his 57-page report to the court said that the EIA report had named of lakes in Tamil Nadu, which had nothing to do with the project in Nauroji Nagar.

It also questioned how the government could allow cutting of trees for such a project in Delhi, which was categorised as one of the most polluted cities in the world.

BCCL

Taking note of the report, the court refused the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) permission to resume works at one of the seven colonies.

The court asked the central government why the redevelopment projects should be allowed as the environment clearance was wrongly granted.

The court, however, allowed NBCC to secure the area.