*J&K says plea unwarranted, all aspects given serious thought
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Apr 19: Union Ministry of Human Resource Development and Ministry of Environment and Forests have failed to file response to the notice issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in a petition challenging transfer of 159 hectares of forest land for establishment of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Jammu. However, the J&K Government in its response has termed the plea as unwarranted on the ground that all the aspects were taken into consideration and there would not be any threat to the ecology due to axing of trees for establishment of prestigious institution.
The transfer of 159 hectares of forest land for establishment of IIT in Nagrota area of Jammu district came under the scanner of National Green Tribunal when a native of Jammu namely Nigam Saroop challenged this decision through a proper petition on the ground that it would damage the environment and ecology of area.
In the last week of March, a bench headed by National Green Tribunal Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar issued notices to the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Environment Ministry and Jammu and Kashmir Government seeking their replies and listed the case on April 17, 2016 for further consideration.
Though J&K Government filed response and termed the petition as unwarranted, the Union HRD Ministry and Ministry of Environment and Forest failed to respond. Now, the NGT has granted one week’s more time to these Union Ministries for filing response and ordered listing of petition on May 2, 2016.
On behalf of J&K Government, Principal Secretary Forest and Environment, R K Gupta appeared before the National Green Tribunal on April 17 and prayed for early decision on the petition so as to facilitate expeditious work on establishment of temporary campus of IIT, which is also coming up in the area selected for permanent campus.
In its response, the J&K Government has submitted that no doubt there are over 63,000 trees on 159 hectares of forest land transferred to Higher Education Department for establishment of IIT but that doesn’t mean all these trees would be felled. “Only 1300 trees have been felled for the temporary campus and equal number of more would face axe for permanent campus as such the ground of the petition is unjustified”, official sources quoting response of the J&K said.
“Rest of the trees would remain intact. Moreover, during the course of construction work, the IIT would ensure utmost care of the remaining trees as contained in the terms and conditions”, sources further said, adding “even large number of ornamental trees would be planted along the approach roads within the campus which will also compensate the loss of trees for construction work”.
The J&K Government has submitted before the National Green Tribunal that the forest land has been transferred for IIT by strictly adhering to the J&K Forest Conservation Act. Moreover, the State Forest Advisory Committee has given its approval only after considering all the related aspects.
It has also been brought to the notice of the NGT that an amount of Rs 20 crore would be taken from the HRD Ministry for compensatory afforestation and the same would be utilized for planting more than double the trees felled for the establishment of IIT campus. “As per the J&K Forest Conservation Act, this amount can be utilized in any part of the State particularly in the degraded forest to maintain ecological balance”, sources added.
While referring to the point of the petitioner that permission of the Ministry of Environment and Forest was not obtained before transfer of land, the J&K Government has submitted before the NGT that as per the Notification dated 09-06-2015 of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, educational institutions have been exempted from obtaining prior environmental clearance under the provisions of EIA Notification dated 14-09-2006.
Moreover, the project proponent would abide by the conditions required as per the guidelines issued by the MoEF for building and construction projects related to educational institutions.
About another point of the petitioner vis-à-vis identification of unproductive and waste lands in other parts of Jammu particularly in Rajouri, Udhampur and Samba districts, J&K has informed the National Green Tribunal that Site Selection Committee of the HRD Ministry has selected only Nagrota for establishment of prestigious institution after inspecting numerous sites.
“Feasibility, approachability and several other aspects are required to be taken into consideration for establishment of such an institution and from all aspects, Nagrota area was found most suitable”, sources said further quoting J&K Government’s response.
The National Green Tribunal would pronounce its judgment after going through the response of the HRD and Forest and Environment Ministries.
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