Kaleshwaram irrigation project got environmental clearance in violation of law: NGT

The NGT observed that the environmental clearance was granted to the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project in Telangana "ex post facto" in violation of the legal requirement. It ordered the MoEF to constitute a seven-member expert committee and suggest relief and rehabilitation measures be adopted.

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday held that environmental clearance was granted to the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project in Telangana "ex post facto" in violation of legal requirement, and formed a committee to assess the extent of damage caused and identify the restoration measures.

The green panel directed the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to constitute a seven-member expert committee and suggest relief and rehabilitation measures to be adopted.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said the stand of the project proponent that the project executed prior to the grant of environmental clearance (EC) is unrelated to irrigation is "patently untenable".

"We are unable to accept the stand of the project proponent that primarily the project is for water supply and water management and that irrigation is subsidiary or incidental part of the project so as to hold that no EC was required prior to execution of the project from 2008 to 2017," the bench said.

"We are also unable to agree that the state did not proceed with the irrigation component in the project till the clearances were granted and only constructed components relating to supply of drinking water," the tribunal said.

The tribunal held that environmental clearance was granted to the lift irrigation project "ex post facto" (having retrospective effect) in violation of the legal requirement.

(PTI)