Rules flouted but temple to stay: Ramesh (Times of India 08 January 2011)

NEW DELHI: While claiming that Akshardham Temple should not have been given clearance on environmental grounds, Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh drew attention to the fact that the temple was built during the NDA regime and had not even sought the mandatory green clearance from the ministry. At the time this happened, many environmental activists had criticized the NDA government. And when the UPA government came to power, it cleared the construction of the Commonwealth Games village on the river bed, ironically, citing the temple as precedent. This was challenged in court and the Supreme Court, too, cleared the village project. Ramesh said: ''We can't demolish the Commonwealth Games village, we can't demolish the Akshardham complex. We have to protect the remaining river bed.'' He added that he was considering a River Regulation Zone notification along the lines of the Coastal Regulation Zone. ''The manner in which the Yamuna river belt has been devastated by construction should be a wake-up call to all of us,'' he said. Ramesh's stand that he was not going to re-open old cases is in contrast to his position on other controversial cases such as Lavasa and Adarsh where he has weighed in to re-investigate years' old cases.