Coastal authority fines NHAI for dumping excavated material inside Odiyur Lagoon off ECR
The decision to take action under provisions of CRZ Notification, 2011 and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 against NHAI was made during a recently conducted Authority meeting
Odiyur lake (File)
CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu State Coastal Zone Management Authority (TNSCZMA) has imposed an environmental compensation of Rs. 9.60 lakh against National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for violating CRZ conditions and dumping excavated materials into Odiyur Lagoon while constructing a bridge under expansion of East Coast Road (ECR) project.
The decision to take action under provisions of CRZ Notification, 2011 and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 against NHAI was made during a recently conducted Authority meeting. The action was based on a petition received from Palluyir Trust for Nature Education and Research pertaining to the violations.
Earlier, based on the petition, the district collector of Chengalpattu district was asked to inspect the site (Odiyur Lagoon) to ascertain whether the alleged construction is occurring in the CRZ area, to take appropriate action, and to submit a report, an Authority document said.
The subsequent report of the district collector stated that NHAI is continuously dumping the excavated material into the water body of Odiyur Lagoon which violates the CRZ Conditions.
As per one of the conditions laid while issuing CRZ clearance in October 2020, the NHAI should not dump excavated material in water bodies or adjacent areas and the site should be restored to its near original condition after completion of construction of the bridge.
Meanwhile, the Authority sent a communication to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change informing the violations, following which the ministry directed the Authority to take action.
Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) calculated the environmental compensation based on impact and number of days the violation took place and other factors by adopting a formula devised by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
"The Authority approved the assessed Environmental Compensation and instructed the Member Secretary, TNSCZMA to initiate action against the Project Proponent (NHAI) in accordance with the provisions of CRZ Notification, 2011 and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986," the document said.
It may be noted that the NHAI is expanding the ECRv from Chennai to Puducherry under Phase-1 of Bharatmala Pariyojana project. Also, the southern bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) is hearing a case pertaining to the dumping inside Odiyur Lagoon.
The NHAI had informed the NGT that there is a 2-lane major bridge of 240m across Odiyur lake connecting Paramankeni and Mudaliarkuppam villages in Cheyyur taluk. The approaches to the major bridge are on S-Curve with a radius of 270mts. For improving the geometrics at highway, it is proposed to construct a new bridge of 490m in the realignment to improve the geometrics of approaches to meet with design speed requirements of 100 km/hr.
