The Supreme Court on Thursday revoked the deferment of the environmental clearance to the Mopa airport at Goa thereby enabling resumption of the airport construction work.
A bench comprising Justices DY Chadrachud and Deepak Gupta said: “We deem it appropriate to ensure the oversight of the project by a specialized body to ensure compliance with the directions cumulatively issued by this Court.
“We direct the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) to be appointed to oversee compliance with the directions cumulatively issued by this Court. The project proponent shall bear the costs, expenses and fees of NEERI.”
On the previous hearings, the court had directed the Goa government and developer GMR to maintain a status quo on the construction of the airport while reserving the judgment after concluding the arguments on Feb 23, 2019.
The court had come on the plea filed by two Goa-based environmentalists raising concern over the felling of several thousand trees for the construction of the airport. The court then again on Oct 23 had refused to accord an urgent hearing of the plea seeking to constitute a special bench and urging resumption of the construction work.
The Mopa airport which is being developed by Goa government and developer GMR is expected to handle 30 million passengers when it is completely functional.