Chennai: The Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal in Chennai on Thursday halted a move to construct an international cricket stadium at the foot of the Tirumala hills, for which Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy had laid the foundation stone on Wednesday. The bench, comprising judicial member Justice M. Chockalingam and expert member R. Nagendran said the Tribunal felt that the proposed plan was likely to affect the environment and ought to be stopped immediately by way of an order of interim injunction.
“If four lakh fully-grown trees, including precious red sanders, are cut, the region, a catchment area for water flowing down from the hills, would definitely be affected.
This will cause enormous damage to the ecology, endanger wildlife and also degrade the environment. Hence, it requires immediate intervention by the Tribunal. Taking suo motu cognizance of a news item published in a daily, the registry is directed to take it on file as an application,” the bench said.
