CHENNAI: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday stayed a multi-crore rupees government industrial estate project in Tiruvallur district.
Tamil Nadu Small Industries Development Corporation Limited (SIDCO) had identified 145.98 acres of land near Tiruttani to establish an industrial estate. The project was announced in the 2021 budget session last September.
Based on this, SIDCO sought the help of Thiruvallur collector to alienate suitable land at Kaverirajapuram village. In order to ascertain boundaries, authorities inspected the site and removed the thorn bushes with the help of earthmovers.
This attracted the attention of the villagers. One among them, Somasekar Seshachalam, approached the NGT Southern Zone seeking directions to stall this project.
In his petition, he alleged that water channels, agricultural lands and archaeological monuments abutting the proposed site will be damaged once construction starts. "They are cutting trees which are having the effect of social forestry," he said. The villager further alleged that authorities did not conduct any socio-economic impact of the project in the area and did not obtain environmental clearance (EC) before commencing work. According to the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006, industrial parks require prior clearances from the government.
In response, the revenue authorities said that they still haven't commenced work and only marked the boundaries now. Seshachalam's agricultural land, which is situated near the proposed project site, doesn't have a patta. It is actually government-owned (anadeenam) land and he had encroached on it as a trespasser, they told the tribunal.
After hearing both sides, NGT observed that even if the applicant is in possession of the anadeenam land without permission, it doesn't preclude him from approaching this tribunal.
Authorities are free to take appropriate action to remove him from the land in accordance with the law, NGT SZ said. It, however, constituted a joint-committee to submit a factual report about the issue.
This panel after inspecting the land in November 2021 confirmed that waterbodies (odai) and a fort are abutting the proposed site.
So, NGT directed SIDCO not to start the project without getting mandatory clearances from environment and archaeological departments. The collector has been told not to change the character of the land in the guise of survey for land identification. They have also been barred from usage of heavy machinery for leveling the land by removing natural vegetation available in that land.
