The Centrally Empowered Committee (CEC) on Monday observed that the construction inside Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary — some 30 km north of Borivili — was illegal.
The Centrally Empowered Committee (CEC) on Monday observed that the construction inside Tungareshwar Wildlife Sanctuary — some 30 km north of Borivili — was illegal.
The sanctuary was under threat due to illegal construction of a temple at Sadanandbaba Ashram. Surprisingly, the construction was going on despite officials’ efforts to stop it. The trustees, after failing to get the construction regularised by the Ministry of Environment and Forest, had moved the CEC for the same.
A two member team of the CEC visited Tungareshwar in September this year to conduct the survey. During the hearing on November 3 at New Delhi, the committee said that since the construction was inside a wildlife sanctuary, it was illegal. The trust lawyer, however, pleaded that the state government should be asked to file an affidavit about its stand on the temple, which, the committee rejected.
The committee opined that the construction was illegal and must be demolished.
Sources said that the members were surprised as to how the state government did not take any action on the illegal construction over the years.
The committee will submit its report to the Supreme Court in a month. And the final decision about the illegal construction would be taken by the apex court.
“Since the CEC has said that that the temple is illegally constructed inside the wildlife sanctuary, state government should demolish it as early as possible,” said Debi Goenka of Conservation Action Trust.
The temple trustees had earlier tried to get the central government’s permission to construct the temple. However, they continued with the construction despite the fact that the two applications filed by the trust were rejected by the Ministry of Environment and Forest.
The state forest department had also issued two eviction notices to the trust. But the trustees ignored them. “The notices were issued in 2006 and 2007. As per the latest notice, the trust was instructed to vacate the place before April 30, 2008,” said PN Munde, conservator of forest and director, Sanjay Gandhi National Park.
a_ashwin@dnaindia.net
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