Team Herald
MARGAO: Tree cutting for the construction work of the Mopa Airport project has been halted for the next four weeks. Two appeals against the order of the National Green Tribunal were heard by the Supreme Court on Friday before the SC bench of Dr Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Mukeshkumar Rasikbhai Shah.
The judges ordered that the status quo on Mopa should be maintained for four weeks. They gave three weeks time for the respondents to submit their reply and another one week for the petitioners to submit their rejoinder.
The appeals were filed by Hanuman Aroskar and the Federation of Rainbow Warriors. The advocate for the petitioners, Anitha Shenoy, argued that that Environment Impact Assessment was flawed since the report stated that there were only bushes on the Mopa plateau and that later, the project proponents, GMR, had applied for an NOC to cut 5,000 trees.
The advocate for the respondent argued that the bushes had grown into trees, however, the judges did not accept the argument. Shenoy also stated that no environment study was done in Maharashtra when there exist 14 forests in that State that border the Mopa plateau.
The judges admitted the petition and had ordered for a stay on tree cutting. The respondents argued that the trees have already been cut and that the project is of national interest. In spite of the arguments, Justice Chandrachud ordered that the status quo has to be maintained.
Abhijit Prabhudesai of FRW said that Shenoy argued the case brilliantly and is hopeful of the eventual outcome of the case. With this latest setback, it is unlikely that the project will be complete by 2020.
