Arguments on four petitions heard and judgment reserved, says CRDA chief The arguments before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on environmental clearances given for the construction of capital city Amaravati on the banks of the Krishna concluded on Thursday and the NGT had reserved its judgment. AP-Capital Region Development Authority (AP-CRDA) Commissioner Cherukuri Sreedhar said in a press release the NGT’s principal bench, headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar, heard the arguments of the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP) and the petitioners, who demanded that the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority’s nod should be revoked on various grounds. The petitioners contended that the capital city was sought to be constructed in an ecologically sensitive area and the violations allegedly committed by the GoAP posed environmental hazards besides causing permanent damage to multi-cropped lands. Supreme Court advocate A.K. Ganguli, A.P’s Advocate General D. Srinivas, State’s counsel in the apex court, Guntur Prabhakar, and another lawyer G. Pramod Kumar put forth the CRDA’s arguments. The Commissioner and other top officials of the CRDA have personally appeared before the NGT and represented their position during the course of the hearings. Counsel for the petitioners toward the fag end of the hearing alleged that the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Report and the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) presented by the CRDA was “forged”. They told the tribunal that the signature of Tata Consulting Engineers Ltd Water and Environment division head Ashish Despande was “cut and paste” on to the report and plan. They pointed out to an alleged discrepancy in the dates to make their point. The NGT concluded arguments on four petitions filed by Pandalaneni Srimannaryana and Kamalakar, another by Pandalaneni Srimannaryana and Satya Bolisetti, and two more by retired IAS officer E.A.S. Sarma. Mr. Srimannarayana filed a petition in the NGT on the direction of the Supreme Court in July 2016. HC order Justice Kodandaram of the Hyderabad High Court on Thursday directed the CEO of the CRDA, and also its director to be present in the court on April 27 to explain to the court reason for tardy implementation of various provisions of new Act which is leading to citizens rushing to the high court. The judge was dealing with batch of cases filed several people complaining that the buildings are sought to be demolished in violation of procedure.