NT NETWORK
SANKHALI
A Supreme Court bench has questioned Karnataka for danger caused to the environment and ecology while undertaking the work of Kalsa-Bhandura project in Kankumbi.
On Friday, an interlocutory application filed by Nirmala Sawant, president of Mhadei Bachao Abhiyan (MBA), came up for hearing when the apex court bench comprising Justice M B Lokur and Deepak Mishra expressed concern over environmental damage done by Karnataka while undertaking the above work.
During the previous hearing in the matter, the minister for environment and forest was asked to stop Karnataka from going ahead with the Kalsa-Bhandura project if they had not obtained environmental clearances and other mandatory permissions.
At this juncture, Ranjit Kumar, the Solicitor General told the court that he will look into the
matter whether work is going on without permission and see whether directives given by the apex court were followed or not.
Nirmala Sawant, MBA president said that “since 2006 Karnataka has been violating norms of forest and environment act, continued Kalsa-Bhandura work without showing any respect to forest, wildlife and ecology.”
The general secretary of MBA Rajendra Kerkar said that “when I visited the area recently I found unfinished work of Kalsa was going on in full swing; cutting of trees and destruction of environment has been happening in Kankumbi from time to time. We have brought the
irregularities to the attention of authorities.” The next hearing on the matter is scheduled after three weeks.