PANAJI
The Goa government has passed the buck of monitoring GMR’s environmental compliances to the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) the Nagpur headquartered institute operating under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.
In a response to a questioned raised by Aldona Congress MLA Adv Carlos Alvares Ferreira, who had asked for copies of audit/inspection reports of verification of the compliance of EC (Environmental Clearance) condition, the state government said that the Supreme Court had appointed NEERI “for overseeing of the compliance of the EC conditions”.
The Supreme Court in its judgement dated January 16, 2020 had said it would be appropriate “to ensure the oversight of the project by a specialised body to ensure compliance with the directions cumulatively issued by this Court” and went on to appoint NEERI only “to oversee compliance with the directions cumulatively issued by this Court.”
There are a total of 119 conditions that GMR has to comply with including conditions imposed by the Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change, the National Green Tribunal and the Supreme Court that GMR has to comply with during the building and operation of the airport that deal with environmental mitigation measures.
Meanwhile, the government has provided links to GMR’s own half yearly compliance reports that they have submitted to the Union Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate change, the latest report being submitted in May this year.
