The SC, however, expressed concern that the project was close to Okhla Bird Sanctuary and said all conditions and guidelines laid down for it should be followed.
In a major relief to Mayawati, the Supreme Court (SC) gave the green signal on Friday to the Uttar Pradesh chief minister’s dream project, the Rs685-crore Bhimrao Ambedkar Park in Noida.
“We have found that it [the park] is not on forest land,” a bench of chief justice SH Kapadia and justices Aftab Alam and KS Radhakrishnan said.
The SC, however, expressed concern that the project was close to Okhla Bird Sanctuary and said all conditions and guidelines laid down for it should be followed.
According to Bombay Natural History Society, the sanctuary, which is a stone’s throw away from the park, is home to about 302 species of birds. Of these, two are critically endangered, 11 vulnerable and seven nearly threatened.
Considering this, the SC put a rider. It said only 25% of the park area could have hard landscaping, 25% should be covered with soft landscaping, such as grass and shrubs, and the remaining 50% with trees.
The Mayawati government had pulled down at least 6,000 adult trees to create space for the project.
The court also refused to allow the construction under the state government’s supervision and has set up a monitoring panel comprising an ornithologist from the ministry of environment and forests, a member of the apex court-appointed central empowered committee and CEO of Noida (New Okhla Industrial Development Authority).
Construction at the park, which suffered depredation of forest after concrete structures and a huge high stone wall were erected, was stalled by the SC last year after the environment ministry raised concerns.
While giving the go-ahead to the project, the court asked the ministry to revisit certain ambiguous provisions in a notification issued by the environment assessment authority on September 14, 2006.
It said projects/activities under items 8(a) and 8(b) of a schedule in the notification needed clarity and greater precision.
The definition of a built-up area with facilities open to sky needed to be freed from its present ambiguity and vagueness, the bench said.
Environment analysts feel certain builders and governments indifferent to protection of nature were misusing this provision.
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