Assam: Gauhati HC upholds NGT orders, directs complete demolition of NRL boundary wall
Guwahati: The Gauhati High Court on Monday ordered the demolition of the Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) boundary wall as ordered by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2016.
A bench of Justice Debasish Baruah passed the order saying the entire wall need to be demolished as it is a part of Deopahar reserve forest in Golaghat district.
Earlier in September 2018, the Gauhati High Court had stayed any further demolition of the Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) boundary wall as ordered by the NGT.
The NGT order, dated August 24, 2016, asked for the demolition of the wall and in March 2018 a part of it was demolished but one portion remains to be brought down.
The NRL had filed a petition with the NGT, seeking a review of its 2016 order but it was dismissed by the NGT in August 2018, asking the NRL to comply with the 2016 order.
Rohit Choudhury, an environmental activist, had approached the NGT in August 2015, and had alleged that the boundary wall is being created on the land of Deopahar reserve forest and obstructing the elephant corridor.
The NGT, in its order in 2018, had said the barbed wire and the razor-edge fencing along the said boundary wall was "extremely dangerous to the elephants and other wildlife passing through the vicinity".
Some elephants died after the wall came up, as recorded in a video clipping submitted by the applicant.
It also said the elephant corridors need to be preserved and are of prime importance for the migration of elephants.