NGT orders Mantri Developers to demolish structures built on buffer zone around lakes
BENGALURU: In a landmark judgement which has far reaching consequences, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday asked Mantri Developers to demolish massive structures it has built, violating the buffer zones around lakes and rajakaluves in Bengaluru and imposed a whopping penalty of Rs 117 crore on the builder.
The Principal bench of the NGT, New Delhi also ordered that no residential or non-residential projects should be given permission in the buffer zone of lakes across the country. Mantri has been told to restore the 3.10 acres of encroached lakebed area to the authorities immediately.
Mantri Tech Zone and Coremind Software and Services have been fined Rs 117 crore and Rs 13.5 crore. The tribunal has quashed the environmental clearance given to the project and stayed the construction till the time the developer obtains a fresh clearance. The judgement is a warning to many developers across the city, who are known to encroach lake beds and other ecologically sensitive areas by blatantly flouting the rules.
The bench set a higher threshold of a buffer, increasing it from the existing 30 metres to 75 metres around lakes. It further directed the authorities to calculate the buffer zone for rajakaluves from the edge of the drain and not from the centre of the drain, as is being done now.
The Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF), supported by founder trustee MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Forward Foundation and others, had filed the application before the Tribunal, alleging various illegalities in the execution of a large mixed-use project coming up in the ecologically sensitive area between Agara and Bellandur Lakes.
Mr Sridhar Pabbisetty, CEO, Namma Bengaluru Foundation, said, “This landmark judgement is a major shot in the arm in the fight against encroachment of lakes and water bodies in Bengaluru. At a juncture where we are losing our lakes to vested interests and to unsustainable development within the city, the decision of the NGT to increase the buffer zone around the lakes and rajakaluves is a great precedent. I want to thank Mr Rajeev Chandrasekhar for his steadfast support and the citizen groups for their partnership in his historic win for our city.”
