Guwahati: National Green Tribunal ( NGT ) has directed the ministry of environment, forest & climate change, National Tiger Conservation Authority, Kaziranga National Park and principal chief conservator of forests of Assam to respond to the suo-moto case over the proposed five-star hotel in Kaziranga. They have been directed to respond one week before the next date of hearing. NGT’s principal bench took suo moto cognizance of the case under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 based on media reports.
The principal bench transferred the case to the eastern zonal bench of the tribunal since the matter falls under them and listed the matter on September 30 for hearing. The court noted that the media reports indicate violation of the provisions of the Environment Protection Act, 1986, Biodiversity Act, 2002 and the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. Recently, the Assam govt signed an agreement with the Tata Group to construct a five-star hotel near Kaziranga National Park, a Unesco World Heritage site.
Assam Tourism Development Corporation (ATDC) on August 3 signed an MoU with Amalgamated Plantations Pvt Ltd (APPL) and Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL), subsidiaries of Tata Group, to develop the luxury property at a cost of Rs 120 crore. Another five-star hotel project by international chain Hyatt is also underway, which plans to invest Rs 100 crore in a resort near KNP. We also published the following articles recently Five-star Dunith Wellalage spins Sri Lanka to historic serie.