HYDERABAD: The National Green Tribunal’s southern zone bench in Chennai has declined to issue a stay on the Telangana government’s Future City Project on the outskirts of Hyderabad. The bench stated that no interim orders could be made without hearing from all parties involved and without official responses submitted. The Future City Development Authority (FCDA) and the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEFCC) have been instructed to provide formal responses by June 9 for further deliberation.
The order came during proceedings initiated by Hyderabad-based environmentalist Dr. Dhonthi Narsimha Reddy, who claims that the government is engaging in development for the project without the necessary prior environmental clearances, contravening environmental laws.
Representing the FCDA, Additional Advocate General Tera Rajinikanth Reddy argued that the project is still in its early stages and that no unlawful development activities are occurring on the contested site. He assured the bench that the required environmental clearances (EC) would be pursued as mandated.
The petitioner is seeking a permanent injunction against the Future City project, which spans approximately 30,000 acres across 56 villages. Narsimha Reddy contended that the FCDA began infrastructure developments, such as road construction and tender issuance, without securing the necessary ECs, impacting agricultural and pastoral landscapes.
He emphasized that under the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification of 2006, any development project covering more than 50 hectares requires prior clearance. Narsimha Reddy also noted that his formal complaints to authorities regarding these concerns and legal stipulations have been ignored.
He requested that the bench restrain the FCDA from continuing any construction until the requisite legal clearances are obtained and urged the Union Ministry of Environment to take action against the authority for alleged statutory violations.
