The Supreme Court on Thursday noted that it was inclined to nullify the Centre’s notification which exempted the authorities from undertaking Environment Impact Assessment in case a road project is less than 100 kilometres long, PTI reported.
The court made the observation while hearing a petition against the felling of more than 300 trees for the construction of railway over bridges in West Bengal and the widening of a highway on the Indo-Bangladesh border.
The bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde said it was concerned about degradation of the environment because of road projects and suggested waterways as an alternative.
The court said that a lot of trees would be cut for the road-widening project and “prima facie we inclined to strike down the notification [about the exemption from EIA]”, according to PTI. The bench noted that in case it was inevitable to undertake a road project, the value of every tree should be built into the project’s cost
Bobde…