The principal bench headed by chief justice Swatanter Kumar was hearing an on-going petition that has highlighted the environmental violations of the Numaligarh refinery, a joint venture between Assam government, Oil India and Bharat Petroleum.
In yet another rebuke against the Numaligarh refinery in Assam for violating forest laws and blocking encroaching on wildlife corridors in Kaziranga's no-development zone, the principal bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the refinery to submit the number of trees they felled, how many trees they planted and the mortality rate of these trees. Kaziranga national park is home to one of the largest population of the endangered one-horned rhino in the world and their habitat has been under regular threats due to encroachments.
The principal bench headed by chief justice Swatanter Kumar was hearing an on-going petition that has highlighted the environmental violations of the Numaligarh refinery, a joint venture between Assam government, Oil India and Bharat Petroleum.
With the help of photographs, petitioner Rohit Choudhary, a resident of Assam, highlighted that an extension of the refinery's township and construction of a boundary wall for a golf course had obstructed movement of elephants. In fact, local forest officers have recorded how an elephant calf died as it hit against the illegal wall.
During a hearing of the petition last week, the bench expressed its anger about the violations. "There is no concern for the environment and it is an abuse of law." Apart from seeking details of tree felling, the bench asked the state government of Assam to inspect the site where violations have been reported.
During the hearing, the petitioner also produced letters of the Golaghat forest division and the divisional forest officer (DFO) who has time and again detailed the adverse impacts of the environmental violations in Kaziranga national park's no-development zone. The DFO's site inspection report of the golf course said that there was a "sharp contrast between the neighboring forest areas of having high canopy density and golf course with no trees at all. Further, during the visit elephant tracks were found all around the golf course site suggesting that the area is regularly used by the elephants.
In August, the DFO had noted that "the Numaligarh Refinery Township and areas immediately adjacent to that are of late becoming a graveyard for the animals due spur in illegal activities by NRL management.
The bench thus has asked the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority to now take a final view on the violations of the refinery based on the reports of the DFO. The matter will now be heard next week.?
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