National Green Tribunal dismisses pleas filed against Kaleshwaram project

HYDERABAD: Providing relief to the Telangana government, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has dismissed two petitions filed against the Kaleshwaram project on Tuesday. One petition was related to cancellation of all permissions given earlier and the other sought constitution of a committee to probe the project.

According to chief engineer of Kaleshwaram project Hari Ram, one Hayatuddin had filed a petition in the NGT regarding permissions given to the project. Another petition filed in NGT sought to appoint an enquiry committee for the Kaleshwaram project.

This petition like the earlier one was also dismissed by the NGT. The tribunal questioned the petitioner on what grounds he had to enquire on the issue. The bench headed by Justice Raghavendra Rathod said that the Kaleshwaram Project had got all permissions and there was no need to probe and also no need to constitute a committee to enquire at the ground level.

The NGT posted another petition requesting the cancellation of environmental and forest clearances to Kaleshwaram for September 17. Kaleshwaram Project chief engineer Hari Ram welcomed the decision of the NGT to dismiss the key petition. He said that the NGT had commented that there was no need for fresh enquiry when the project had permissions from the Central Water Commission (CWC), environmental, forest and hydrology departments.

Meanwhile, major irrigation minister T. Harish Rao welcomed the move by NGT. He commented that the NGT’s judgement was a slap on the face of those who were opposing the Kaleshwaram project. The minister requested the opposition parties to cooperate with the construction of the project.