Thiruvananthapuram: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a stay order stalling construction activities at the project site of Dragon-stone Realty Pvt Ltd at Technopark Phase III following a complaint rece-ived from the NGO – Environment Protection and Research Council (EPRC). As per the complaint by EPRC the Dragonstone Realty Pvt Ltd obtained prior Environmental Clearance (EC) for the project by concealing the facts about the actual built-up area of the project.
The NGT has directed the Dragonstone Realty Pvt Ltd in an order issued on July 30, 2019 to not undertake any construction at the project site without clearance. The NGT has directed the representatives of Centre Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Regional Office, Chennai and State Pollution Control Board about the status of the project on the ground level and furnish a report within a month. The NGT has appointed the state PCB as the nodal agency for compliance and coordination.
The allegation raised by the NGO is that the actual built-up area of the project was 3.49 lakh sqm, which would bring the project within the Category A and the party has given 1.33 lakh sqm in the application for Environment Clearance to bring the project in Category B for getting the clearance.
Also, the NGT observed the Environment Cleara-nce obtained for the project has been expired and the fresh application submitted by the Dragons-tone Realty Pvt Ltd is still pending. In the fresh application, the area of development is more and has to be appraised accordingly.
When contacted an official of Taurus Investment Holdings India said that they will start construction works in the Non-SEZ component of the project site only after receiving all statutory approvals necessary as per law for such projects. “As of now, we have not started any construction work on the Non-SEZ site and are waiting for final Environment Clearance based on the pending application,” the official added.
In May 2019 a special committee constituted by the NGT inspected the project site of Dragonstone Realty Pvt Ltd to cross-check the allegations raised by the green activities. A team comprising of members from Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF &CC), State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC).
