PANAJI
The Supreme Court of India has set aside the order of the National Green Tribunal, which had allowed the construction of a bridge across the Tiracol river connecting the Querim village to the Tiracol hamlet located on the Maharashtra side of the river that falls in Goa.
The Supreme Court had earlier, in July last year, stayed the construction of the bridge pending the hearing of the petition filed by the Goa Foundation.
The Goa Foundation approached the Supreme Court challenging the NGT’s order rejecting the appeal against the construction of the Rs 77-crore signature bridge connecting Querim and Tiracol that activists had alleged was being built solely for the benefit of Leading Hotels Pvt Ltd, which at the time was seeking to build a golf course in Tiracol village.
The Goa Foundation had approached the National Green Tribunal earlier challenging the permissions for the bridge on grounds of being approved in violation of the CRZ notification. The NGT had initially ordered a stay on the construction.
However, in January 2020, the NGT (Delhi) dismissed the application of the Foundation without hearing from the Foundation. After a Bombay High Court order, the matter was once again placed before the NGT which again in January 2022 dismissed the application without hearing the petitioner on merits. The Goa Foundation filed an appeal before the Supreme Court.
The Foundation argued that Querim beach had been declared as CRZ I because of its outstanding natural beauty and sand dunes, which would not allow construction of a bridge of the kind envisaged as CRZ I beaches are No-Development Zones. The bridge alignment also deviated from the RP 2021 alignment for a proposed bridge.
The Goa Foundation also drew the attention of the NGT that the bridge was not a public facility, since Tiracol had only 50 families, and it was difficult to conceive of a government spending Rs 77 crore for a bridge that would satisfy their requirement of being connected to the mainland, across the river.
The petitioners provided evidence from the records of the GSIDC that the bridge was in fact intended to benefit a private golf course resort to be located in Tiracol village. “In fact, the bridge design was generated by the golf course promoters from Singapore to suit the golf course. The resort putting up the golf course had argued that the “signature bridge” would provide a spectacular entry to their golf resort,” the Goa Foundation has said in its petition.
