Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Centre puts Dadri project on hold (Times of India 07 February 2012)

NEW DELHI: In another embarrassment for the poll-bound BSP government in Uttar Pradesh, the Union environment ministry has put Ansal's 2,400-acre housing project, Hi-Tech Township City, at Dadri on hold for 'illegally' reclaiming a wetland in the plot.

The ministry has sent a showcause notice to the project developers under the Environment Protection Act, asking them to explain why legal action should not be taken for violating the clearance norms and the project should not be scrapped. The developers have been given 15 days to respond to the notice, and till then the project would remain suspended. While, the Central government has to demarcate the wetland area falling in the project site.

The project abutting Greater Noida area and along the Eastern Periphery Expressway lies at the termination point of the proposed Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, Boraki.The project was cleared by UP's environmental clearance authority. But questions were raised about the clearance by state forest officials. Then, the Union environment ministry sent a team to inspect th e site.

The team recorded that the project area was swampy, a natural habitat to several bird species and also included a wetland of six-eight hectares. The team found that some of the wetlands had been reclaimed by the company after being purchased from the locals.norms

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