It was yet another major blow for the Andhra Pradesh government in the Supreme Court on Wednesday as the court refused to lift the stay on its three major reservoir construction.
However, the court issued a stay on Rs 100 crore penalty to be paid by the Andhra Pradesh government. It also directed the state government to pay Rs 25 crore to the Krishna River Management Board for environmental violations.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) had issued a stay on the construction of three balancing reservoirs as part of the Handri Niva and Galeru Nagari project. The government proposed balancing reservoirs at Avulapalli, Nethiguttapalle and Mudivedu as part of the project.
The NGT had directed the state to stop these three reservoirs. However, as the government continued the project works, the NGT had imposed a penalty of Rs 100 crore on the state government for violating its earlier orders.
The state government had approached the supreme court against the NGT orders and sought stay. The court, which heard the case on Wednesday said that it would not issue stay on the NGT orders but would stay on the payment of Rs 100 crore penal amount.
It was the second such order to the state government by the NGT. Earlier, the NGT had imposed Rs 400 crore penal amount for sand mining in Krishna River during the TDP regime. The state government had finally escaped from the penalty proving that there was no illegal mining.
