Stay order withdrawing consent for BMIC project: NICE

Stay order withdrawing consent for BMIC project: NICE

The Hindu

The company has altered alignment, says Pollution Control Board

# The decision is illegal, says NICE
# It will bring the entire project to a standstill

BANGALORE: Nandi Infrastructure Enterprise Ltd. (NICE) has appealed to the Karnataka State Appellate Authority (Water and Air Act) against the September 20 order of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board withdrawing consent for the 111-km Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project being promoted by it.

In the order, the KSPCB said that "the board has compared the alignment submitted for seeking consent for establishment (CFE) with the alignment approved by the BMIC Area Planning Authority on 12.2. 2004, and finds that the latter alignment is significantly different and in variance with that submitted to KSPCB for grant of CFE and the environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests."

The appeal came up for hearing on October 31, but it was adjourned to a later date since one of the members, G.C. Thallur, could not sit in hearing in this case. He is the former Secretary, Public Works Department, who acted on behalf of the Government while the project was being cleared.

The appellate authority has the former judge H.N. Narayana as chairman, and Thallur and Lahiri of the Indian Institute of Science as members. Efforts were on to replace Mr. Thallur, official sources told The Hindu.

In its affidavit before the authority, NICE has sought that the KSPCB order withdrawing consent be stayed, saying that the entire project would be brought to a standstill, and a huge amount of loss, hardship and inconvenience cause not only to the company but also to the general public.

According to NICE, the CFE was granted by the KSPCB on September 11, 2000, and since then, the company had spent Rs. 600 crore.

Based on the CFE, it had obtained permission and clearance from other authorities, including the Ministry of Environment and Forest.

Countering the KSPCB's charge that it had altered the alignment without reference to the board as clearly stipulated in the CFE, NICE maintained that the BMIC Area Planning Authority was specially constituted to oversee various aspects of implementation of the project, including alignment of the components.

NICE said that it had also sought and obtained approval of the alignment of the expressway; service, link and peripheral roads; and related components from the Public Works Department.

Further, the BMIC Area Planning Authority had issued a notification under Section 10 of the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act, 1961, (KTCPA) declaring its intention to prepare the Outline Development Plan for the entire area under the project.

According to NICE, irrespective of whether there is an alleged deviation from the alignment submitted to the KSPCB in the Outline Development Plan, in view of Section 76-M of the KTCPA, the withdrawal of CFE was illegal.