Odisha to seek MoEFCC clearance on Deomali eco-tourism project
BHUBANESWAR : The state government is working to get clearance of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) on Deomali eco-tourism project within three months as ordered by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), sources in the Forest department said.
As an alternative option, it is also considering to go for appeal against the tribunal order. PCCF (wildlife) and chief wildlife warden Prem Kumar Jha said the department is going through the details of the NGT order.
'As we have been granted three months time, a decision permissible under law will be taken soon to comply with the order within the timeline,' Jha informed.
The NGT recently asked the state government to get clearance from the Centre for the structure under Forest (Conservation) Act within three months or demolish them and restore the land to its original form.
The NGT's Eastern Zone bench of Justice B Amit Sthalekar (Judicial member) and Arun Kumar Verma (Expert member) had held that constructions made under the guise of eco-tourism development violated forest conservation norms and lacked requisite permissions.
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