NEW DELHI, Aug 24 - In a significant intervention, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday ordered Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) to demolish a wall blocking an elephant corridor near the Kaziranga National Park.
A five-member bench headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar (chairperson) of the Tribunal has asked the NRL to demolish a 2.2-km-long wall blocking the elephant corridor within a month.
The NGT proposed that the expansion of the NRL township �cannot be allowed� as it comes in a �No Development Zone�. The NGT�s order has paved the way for elephants to have a natural migration route in the area. The NGT has also asked the Assam Government to declare the area as a reserve forest without delay.
An elephant calf had died in May this year due to the wall, which was built in 2011 on a hill close to the Deopahar proposed reserve forest (PRF) in Golaghat district and adjoining the Kaziranga National Park.
Four years after the wall was built, the State Forest Department raised a red flag and said the allocation of land was done in violation of the Forest Conservation Act that empowers only the Centre to allow the diversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes.
Raising serious objections to the construction of the wall, the Tribunal ruled that the area, where it has come up and the proposed township is to come up, is a part of Deopahar PRF. It also falls within the �No Development Zone� notification, issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) in 1996.
Further, for causing environmental damage by destruction of forest cover and flattening of the hill to build a golf course, the NRL will pay environmental compensation of Rs 25 lakh to the Assam Forest Department, which is to be kept in a separate bank account for the restoration of the area and improving the environment adjoining the NRL complex and to reduce man-animal conflict.
The Tribunal further directed that the NRL will also make compensatory afforestation of 10 times the number of trees felled. The 22 plant varieties, suitable to the area, may be planted in consultation with biologists, the Tribunal ruled.
In keeping with the letter and spirit of the notification for �No Development Zone�, the Government of Assam and the MoEF will ensure that no development activities whatsoever take place within a radius of 15 km of the NRL, which could lead to pollution and congestion, in compliance with the notification dated July 5, 1996.
�We direct the Government of Assam to vigorously implement the directions of the Tribunal by having frequent meetings of the Task Force Committee and effective implementation of their decisions,� it said.
The Government of Assam has also been directed to urgently take steps as per law to finally notify Deopahar PRF into a reserved forest under Section 17 of the Assam Forest Regulations 1891, to prevent further loss to the ecology of Deopahar, which is in close proximity to Kaziranga National Park and is also used as an elephant corridor.
