Kheny dream to skirt lake

Kheny dream to skirt lake

HC QUASHES GOVT notification ON BUILDING NICE ROAD ACROSS GOTTIGERE TANK

Srikanth Hunasavadi. Bangalore



It is time for the Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) Limited to celebrate.
The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday cleared all legal hurdles affecting the construction of the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) around Gottigere Lake.
The court quashed a government notification dated November 4, 2006, ordering that the alignment around the lake be changed and the road be built across the lake.
A division bench headed by Chief Justice PD Dinakran and Justice VG Sabahit allowed the NICE petition challenging the government notification.
The HD Kumaraswamy government had changed the alignment of the NICE PRR near Gottigere tank, directing that the road be built in the middle of Gottigere lake on pillars.
But the High Court quashed the change of alignment and ordered NICE to implement the project as it was conceived and expeditiously in public interest.
And it was not just NICE which had challenged the change of alignment of the road.
Dr BK Chakrapani, an environmentalist, and also the Electronic City Industry Association (ECIA) had filed independent writ petitions challenging the government notification over the change of alignment.
Dr Chakrapani had contended that the construction of the peripheral ring road in the middle of the Gottigere tank would not only destroy the tank but would also affect the ecology and the environment there, even if the road was to be built on pillars.
The ECIA on the other hand contended that the incomplete work of the PRR near Gottigere tank was causing enormous inconvenience to the people who had to commute from different parts of the city to Electronic City for work.
The story so far
Gottigere lake is situated in Gottigere village on Bannerghatta Road and is said to be more than 500 years' old.
It is a live tank and a source of discharge for downstream lakes like Hulimaavu, Madiwala and Bellandur lakes. NICE had entered into an agreement with the state government in April 1997 to build a peripheral ring road.
According to the original alignment, the road had to pass through the lake, bisecting it at a grade point.
Environmentalist Suresh Heblikar then filed a petition in the Karnataka High Court in June 1999 after which NICE was ordered not to lay any road that bisects the tank, as this bisection could prevent or disturb water inflow into the tank.
NICE accepted the order and in June 2002, the Public Works Department (PWD) accepted the NICE proposal of realigning the PRR.
However, the Kumaraswamy government's notification sought to undo this around-the-lake realignment.
The matter was again dragged to the Supreme Court but the apex court referred the case to the High Court. The High Court then heard the matter and disposed it of.

Thumbs up: NICE Chairman Ashok Kheny can heave a sigh of relief as the High Court quashed a government order seeking a change in the road alignment around the Gottigere lake