 "KGS will appeal against Green Tribunal verdict")
Parallel to the legal process, the company had entrusted Engineers India Limited [EIL] and SGS India to prepare fresh Environment Impact Assessment [EIA] report, rectifying the lapses in the earlier report, prepared by Enviro Care. Gigi said that the company had adopted two prong strategy to address the issues developed after the Green Tribunal order. The company will approach the Supreme court and on the same time would adopt administrative processes. It will rectify the mistakes and lapses happened in the earlier EIA study and re-submit.
Theses lapses happened because of the speedy preparation of the report in order to complete before 2011 assembly polls. ‘We will correct it and re-submit. We hope that the judgment of the tribunal will be reversed in the Supreme Court. We are also ready to go for public hearing again. I am confident of commissioning the first phase in two years time, he added.
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The new BJP Government at the center is positive towards the project when we approached the Civil Aviation Ministry. The President’s address in the Parliament also give us confidence as it focus on infrastructure projects with emphasis on low cost airports to serve smaller towns. Aranmula Airport fits this description, he said.
NGT had cancelled the environment clearance to the project based on technical ground. The verdict was based on two major factors, the agency which had conducted the EIA study was not an accredited one and legally stipulated processes were not accepted in the public hearing which held in May 2011. The company is ready to rectify these lapses and along with filing the appeal it will address these issues through administrative processes. We admit the mistakes happened earlier and are ready to rectify these. We are also ready to have dialogue with the people in the area and organizations agitating against the project, he added.
Gigi also said that the company is ready to increase the stake holding of Kerala Government to 26% or more. The Kerala Government now has 10% holding in the promoting company. The LDF Government was very proactive towards the project and had given 17approvals in six months time.
The Chennai Bench of NGT had cancelled the environment clearance to the project on 28th May. The tribunal ordered to stop all the construction activities going on at the project site in Pathanamthitta district. The Airport project, in the central part of Kerala went into controversy as the famous Aranmula Sree Parthasarathy temple is in the vicinity of the project. This created strong resistance from the public, especially from the Hindu devotees and agitation against the project is going on.
Aranmula Heritage Village Protection Action Council [AHVPAC] and political parties like CPI and CPI[M] had approached the Green Tribunal against the green clearance of the Environment Ministry, hence the latest order. The airport is planned to build in around 500 acres with a total investment of Rs 2000 crore. The Kerala State Biodiversity Board submitted a report to the government in March 2013, expressing its reservations over the land use changes and ecological imbalance that the project will entail.
The Board observed that 80% of the land earmarked for the project were paddy fields. Conversion of paddy fields would impact on the remaining wetlands, disturb the food chain, and accelerate the depletion of fish resources as well as other flora and fauna in the Pamba river basin, the report said.