Pune’s builder ask to pay environmental damage By NGT

The National Green Tribunal's bench here has directed  builders in Pune to restore the environmental damage allegedly triggered to a housing contemporary society in Khandala due to illegitimate hill cutting and tree hacking.

The western zonal bench of judicial member U D Salvi and expert member Ranjan Chatterjee asked the Mumbai-based developer to deposit Rs 40 lakh with Lonavala Municipal Council for the restoration work.

It also restrained the developer from resorting to any further tree felling or hill cutting.

It asked the municipal council to regain the destroyed recreation ground and hill side at the Vikas Valley society at Khandala close to here to its original form.

The bench, in its judgement on Feb 28, also ordered the developer to pay Rs one lakh as lawsuit cost to the people - Nanik Rupani and Ashish Vaid - who had approached the NGT alleging "environmental damage" in the area.

The bench ruled that the participants - Vikas Developers and Vikas Gupta - shall jointly or severally pay the expenses and expenses sustained for restitution of the space and deposit Rs 40 lakh with Lonavala Municipal Council within a month.

As per the application, the Pune’s builder experienced to illegally cut a hillside and felled trees to call and make an unlawful and an unauthorized road without permission from Lonavala Municipal Council. The contractor, however, denied the accusations of leading to environmental destruction} in the area.

"We also direct Lonavala City Council to restitute the area of garden/open space as shown in the sanctioned layout, more especially a strip of land admeasuring 6 metre large and 105 metre long in recreation ground/open space, within half a year and restore the costs from the builder, " the tribunal said in its written order.

The developers will not in any manner whatsoever illegally and unauthorisedly fell the trees or carry out hill trimming in the project area of Khandala at Maval taluka in Pune  property area it ruled. The Lonavala civic body informed the bench that it had issued stop work notice to the developers however they would not respond.

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The tribunal further added that it appears that hill cutting and forest felling has been done. The bench also mentioned in its order that the Lonavala civic body and the state authorities supported the applicants, who alleged environmental damage in the area.