AT Photo
Guwahati, August 6: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) will hear the case concerning the proposed luxury hotels to come up in an eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) near Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve tomorrow.
The development follows the Green Tribunal’s suo-motu cognizance of the project, which came just two days after the government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tata Group companies—Amalgamated Plantations Private Limited and Indian Hotels Company Limited—on August 3.
The NGT bench, consisting of Justice Prakash Shrivastava, Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi, and subject expert Dr. A. Senthil Vel, initiated suo-motu proceedings based on a report published by an environmental news portal on July 31.
The case involves a Rs 120-crore Taj Resort and Spa in Kaziranga, a UNESCO Heritage site, and the move has faced significant opposition from environmentalists, farmers, and indigenous communities residing in the region.
Another project, a luxury hotel by Hyatt Hotels Corporation in Hathikuli Inglay Pothar, another ESZ near the UNESCO Heritage site, has also faced scrutiny from various quarters.
The Assam Environmental NGO Forum has urged Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to reconsider the projects due to their location in eco-sensitive zones (ESZs).
Additionally, a rights group has alleged that nearly 60 bighas of public land, which was used by 45 families for cultivation and grazing, has been converted and transferred for the development of a five-star property at Inglay Pothar.
Experts have expressed concerns about the potential ecological impacts these projects could have.
Local farmers' organisations too have condemned the initiatives, warning of severe environmental repercussions and threats to local livelihoods.
Notably, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change (MOEFCC) recently informed the Lok Sabha that permanent structures should not be erected in the eco-sensitive zones of forest reserves and lands, following a Supreme Court order.
The Supreme Court’s ruling, dated June 3, 2022, imposed a blanket ban on new permanent structures within these ESZs.
