Hyderabad: The National Green Tribunal on Friday ordered the Telangana government to maintain status quo on removal of the KBR National Park’s fence and breaking the compound wall as part of the works for the Strategic Road Development Plan.
Special chief secretary of municipal administration department Mr M.G. Gopal said the government would apply to vacate the stay. He said, “We have taken all safeguards to conduct the SRDP till now and will continue to do so. GHMC did not do anything wrong. It was only after a committee of forest and municipal officials along with NGOs and civil society went through all the pros did the government pass an order along with safeguards for this project.”
He said while the government would wait for the NGT's orders, if necessary, it would approach the High Court. The NGT reserved its judgment on the case till July 1.
Mr Gopal, added, “I have worked as director general of EPTRI and have knowledge in the technical aspects of environment economics. Some hundred trees are being chopped for bringing SRDP in place but the benefits of this project outweighs the loss of this tree cover. SRDP will help avoid traffic jams, which are responsible for the increasing pollution. Many people who are protesting do not understand this and want to gain publicity out of protests. Moreover, some trees will be trans-located. The government is also conducting plantation drives of crores of trees across the state.”
He said, “The allegations being made by people regarding chopping down of trees are vague and some of the members who are propagating the protests are clearly politically motivated. Some people who asked for information on the project by saying that they were interested in funding trans-location of fallen trees are now using the information to fuel protests.”
