Bengaluru: The appeal filed by K N Somashekar against Yettinahole project was heard by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday, November 11. The outcome of the hearing by the Principal Bench of NGT was that the felling of 2700 trees must be compensated by planting 27,000 trees in the forest area.
Karnataka State Advocate General Madhusudan R Naik appeared before the bench and explained that the the forest area was being by cutting down 2700 trees in accordance with the law. However, K N Somashekar’s advocates argued that the felling of so many trees is an absolute violation of the existing forest laws.
As a compensatory afforestation measure, the Chairperson of the NGT Bench directed the Advocate General to have 27,000 trees planted in the same area and further directed him to stop the cutting of more trees in the project area. The NGT also told the Advocate General that the state government would be held responsible for the deforestation activities in the Western Ghats.
The advocate for Ministry of Environment and Forests was taken to task by NGT court for not taking necessary measures to deal with the Nethravathi Diversion Project. The final hearing of this case will take place on December 2.