Key Highway Projects Near Chennai Get Green Light Without Additional Environmental Clearance

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ruled that the mining of sand and its transportation from the lakes in the vicinity of construction sites does not require additional environmental clearance in a significant development for all the infrastructure projects located in the periphery of Chennai. The decision comes as a boost to the much-awaited Chennai-Bengaluru expressway and other important projects, which will be implemented without further snags.

The controversy was over the Thatchur-Chittoor section of the Chennai-Bengaluru expressway. Activists had filed a petition seeking a stay based on allegations of sand extraction from Perittivakkam Lake in Thiruvallur district. V. Ramesh, an activist and the petitioner, contended that the environmental impact assessment report had failed to sufficiently explore the impact of extracting sand from the lake. This site was leased for the extraction of 20,000 cubic meter of sand by the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) contractor.

The petitioners claimed the 2021 Supreme Court ruling required separate clearance. Earlier this week, NHAI filed a report in the apex court, stating that the 2021 verdict had given blanket exemption to all road infrastructure projects with work orders issued between March 2020 to March 2024, from having to obtain environmental clearance in advance for mining earth material. This exemption also encompasses 416 highway projects in the country, including the Chennai-Bengaluru expressway.

With this legal obstacle removed, work on other important projects could also continue seamlessly. These also include the expansion of the East Coast Road (ECR) between Mamallapuram and Puducherry and the four-laning of the Chennai-Bengaluru highway between Kancheepuram and Sriperumbudur.

Infrastructure developers have cheered the decision by saying it avoids delays and cost overruns. However environmental activists worry about the potential ecological impact of large-scale sand mining and what they see as an end-run around stricter environmental assessments.

As these projects gain momentum, balancing rapid infrastructure development with sustainable environmental practices to meet activists’ concerns will prove a challenge.