1. Home
  2. No permission for AOL event: Water Resources Ministry to NGT

No permission for AOL event: Water Resources Ministry to NGT

March 9, 2016

New Delhi, Mar 9: Faced with tough questions from National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Water Resources ministry today told the panel it has not granted permission for 'World Cultural Festival' being organised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living foundation from March 11 while another ministry said no clearance was required for temporary structures.

ntba copyResponding to questions from the green panel, the Water Resources ministry distanced itself from the controversy, saying it has not given any clearance for the three-day event.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests, whereas, told the the NGT bench headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar that no environment clearance was required for setting up temporary structures on Yamuna flood plains.

The ministry's submission came after the tribunal, which was hearing pleas seeking cancellation of the festival on the flood plains of Yamuna river, had pulled it up for not filing an affidavit regarding environmental clearances.

During the hearing, the green panel asked the counsel appearing for Art of Living (AOL) to take instructions not to put enzymes into river Yamuna without Delhi Pollution Control Committee's permission, to which the foundation later agreed.

The tribunal also asked the Centre, Delhi govt, DDA if any environment impact assessment was carried out regarding preparation and consequential effects of the festival.

The tribunal was informed by the Delhi government that the police, after inspecting the site, had asked the foundation to show if they have structural safety clearance of pontoon bridge and vehicle parking clearance.

Delhi govt also told the bench that CPWD has asked the foundation to build a separate stage for the Prime Minister due to issues over structural safety, a claim denied by the AOL which said it was being built for better view of the event.

The counsel appearing for Ministry of Water Resources told the bench, "We have not granted any permission regarding the event and no application is pending with us on the same."

The foundation, however, informed the bench that all necessary steps for safety of the people have been taken saying any untoward incident at the venue will be detrimental to country's image.

Giving the details of the expenditure incurred on the event, the AOL foundation informed the green panel that a total of Rs 25.63 crore has been spent on the entire preparation.

The TRIBUNAL had questioned yesterday the building up of pontoon bridge by the Army on river Yamuna for the festival, and asked the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) counsel as to who gave the permission for setting it up.

DDA, Delhi government, MoEF said that they have no relation with the grant of permission for setting up the pontoon bridge as all the three said that they are concerned only with different issues.

DDA had also informed the NGT that it granted permission for 24.44 hectare for holding of the event in which 3.5 lakh to 5 lakh people are likely to participate and has till now not found any violations of its conditions by organizers of the event.

The tribunal had asked all the parties to consider the impact of such an event on the environment, river, ecology and biodiversity.

Counsel for AOL had said that it has no instructions about the study of environment impact assessment but it has satisfied the DDA for permission by fulfillng the condition that no permanent structures will be constructed on flood plains.

AOL said that no concretization has been done, no permanent structure has been built and only wood, clothes and bamboo is being used at the site.

The NGT, which was also hearing a plea against AOL's plan to release 'enzymes' into 17 drains joining Yamuna for cleaning the river, had constituted an expert committee headed by Water Resources Secretary to inspect the site of the proposed festival.

The AOL foundation, which is organising the function, will have yoga and meditation sessions, peace prayers by Sanskrit scholars and traditional cultural performances from India and abroad.

Environmental activist Anand Arya, who filed the petition to stop the event, rued that over 1000-acres of the sensitive area between Delhi and Noida, predominantly marshland, stand shorn of even a "single blade" of grass.

Another petitioner Manoj Mishra of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan questioned the "legality" of the event, and said the area, being destroyed "every moment", will take a long time to recover and slammed the organisers for the "lack of understanding" on their part.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
July 30,2020

Kochi, Jul 30: The Kerala High Court on Thursday refused to grant the extension for the stay of a 74-year-old US citizen, Johnny Paul Pierce, who had earlier said that he felt safer to remain in India than in the United States amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The single-judge bench of Justice CS Dias, which considered the writ petition, observed that the grant or extension of visa to foreign nationals fall exclusively within the domain of the Government of India (GoI) and that judicial review in such matters is minimal.

The power of the GoI to expel foreigners is absolute and unlimited, the bench said.

"In view of the categoric declaration of law by the Supreme Court, the plea of the petitioner to permit him to stay back in India cannot be accepted, as it falls within the purview of the guidelines and the discretion of the Government of India," the order said.

"The petitioner cannot be heard that the guidelines/policies/regulations formulated by the Government of India, that an American national though has been granted a visa having validity of five years has to leave India within 180 days, is irrational or unreasonable," it added.

The High Court, which was hearing a plea to permit the US citizen to stay in India for a further period of six months, said that the petitioner does not have a case that there is an infraction of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

"The petitioner was well aware of the visa conditions when he arrived in India, and it is too late in the day for him to raise a grievance on the visa conditions," the bench said noting that the petitioner's love for India was heartening.

The High Court also directed the Foreigners Registration Officer to consider the petitioner's representation within a period of two weeks in accordance with the applicable guidelines and policies.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 1,2020

Jan 1: Two army personnel were killed in a gunfight with heavily-armed Pakistani infiltrators along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district on Wednesday, officials said.

The infiltrators were intercepted in the Khari Thrayat forest when they were trying to sneak into India from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), they said.

"Two army soldiers martyred during cordon and search operation in Nowshera sector. The operation is still in progress and further details are awaited," Jammu-based Indian Army Public Relations Officer (PRO) Lt Col Devender Anand said in a statement.

The search operation was launched following information about the movement of suspected terrorists, the officials said.

The infiltrators opened fire on the troops and during a fierce gunfight, the two soldiers were killed, they said.

The officials said a massive operation is on in the area.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
January 13,2020

New Delhi, Jan 13: The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) has alleged that the varsity administration has blocked the registration of 300 students on the basis of 'fake Proctor inquiries'.

The union had on Saturday asked students of the university to pay their academic tuition fee but not the hiked hostel fee.

"Today the Vice Chancellor first blocked the fee payment portal and then blocked the payment of tuition fees. It is clear that the VC was lying through the teeth when he said students want to register but are not being allowed to by protesters," JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh said.

She said the VC has also blocked the registration of 300 students based on fake proctor enquiries which are not even completed.

"The truth is that it is the administration which does not want students to register and is blocking their registration," she said.

JNUSU vice president Saket Moon said that in the meetings held in HRD ministry, it was decided that the administration would take a lenient view on the students' protest and not take action against them.

He said many students, who opened the portal for registration found they had been academically suspended and could not register.

He said the JNUSU had softened its stand by saying that they would register by paying the old fees but that has been kept on hold.

On Sunday, the administration extended the date for the winter semester registration till January 15.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.