Govt woos Mayawati, says Noida project does not violate law
Rakesh Bhatnagar / DNAFriday, April 23, 2010 2:35 IST
New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati's dream of dedicating
a 50-hectare public park to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar seems to be coming
true.
In an attempt to woo the Bahujan Samaj Party leader, who only a day
earlier accused the Congress-led UPA government of framing false and
politically motivated cases against her through CBI, the Centre said
on Thursday the controversial park project was not in a reserved
forest area.
The inauguration of the park was stayed by the Supreme Court (SC) a
year ago after concerned residents accused the Mayawati government of
denuding greenery to put up concrete structures (statues of Dalit
leaders).
The ministry of forest and environment said the park was neither
recorded as forest, nor was it deemed forest.
Additional solicitor general Indira Jaising told a bench of chief
justice KG Balakrishnan and justices SH Kapadia and Aftab Alam that it
was actually an urban tree park, thus construction in the area does
not attract provisions of the Forest Conservation Act.
The bench asked the Centre to inform it about the steps to be taken
for afforestation of the area. It will hear the case in July.
The court-appointed central empowered committee's counsel Harish Salve
said even if it was accepted that 6,000 trees were cut to set up the
concrete park and it was not part of a natural forest, the Centre
could have undertaken environment impact assessment (EIA) under the
Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. He said trees were a part of the
afforestation financed by tax-payers.
Petitioner Ravi Kant's lawyer Jayant Bhushan said 6,000 trees were cut
in secrecy by first constructing boundary walls and then putting up
high shields, thereby hiding all activities in the park from the
public.
When Bhushan said the court should not pass an order allowing the
state government to go ahead with the completion of the park, CJI
asked him if he was suggesting dismantling the Rs350-crore project.
To this, the lawyer asserted that the park should be done away with
and trees replanted.
The government said constructions on 20,000 sq m or more areas alone
attracted the EIA notification, 2006. Jaising said the project area of
the park was 33.43 hectares, including the built-up area of 9,542 sq
m. She said since the total plot area was less than 50 hectares and
the built-up area less than 20,000 sq m, the Noida Park Project was
not covered under the EIA notification.
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