A Division Bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice R. Raghunandan Rao on Wednesday ordered that status quo be maintained on the construction activity taken up at Tenneti Park and Kailasagiri Hill in Chinagadili mandal of Visakhapatnam district and served notices to the respondents, including the Commissioner of Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation.
The court was hearing a petition filed by Jana Sena Party corporator P.V.L.N. Murthy Yadav for undertaking compensatory afforestation in the area (survey number 150) that falls under the Coastal Regulation Zone, where a portion of the hill was excavated and several trees were felled to facilitate some constructions. He prayed for restoration of the deeply cut hill area and raising of trees to compensate for the loss of the natural habitat.
While posting the petition for further hearing after four weeks, the court also issued notices to the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Chief Secretary of Government of AP, Principal Secretary (Municipal Administration), Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority, AP State Coastal Zone Management Authority, the Visakhapatnam District Collector, Assistant Director of Mines and Geology and the District Forest Officer.
