Mangaloreans want environmental friendly development; demand saving trees during NHAI work
Mangaluru: Environmental activists from the city have opposed all developmental projects that involve felling of trees and which lead to an ecological imbalance. They were expressing their opinions on the National Highway Authority of India's (NHAI) decision to cut down 99 trees for the expansion of a stretch of the highway, from KPT to Nanthoor, at a grievance redressal meeting organized at the Range Forest Office at Hoige Bazar in Mangaluru on Monday.
"The city struggles to get water in the summer and fears floods in the rainy season. We have the disasters that happened at Shirur and Wayanad before our own eyes, this monsoon. We don't oppose any developments but we are against any developments that destroy trees. Let the development happen along with the conservation of trees", the activists demanded.
Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) Clifford Lobo said that NHAI had identified 99 trees to be felled in the 350 metre stretch of the highway. As the regulations mandated seeking of public opinion when more than 50 trees were cut down, the current meeting was being held, he said.
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National Environmental Conservation Federation (NECF) Convenor Shashidhar Shetty objected to the cutting down of hundreds of trees along the stretch of the road even before any expansion works ensued. He said that the NHAI was not following the green policy and the trees could be shifted to a different location. A notice had been issued against the forest department by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for its negligence in connection with the Shirur landslide, he said. "Rs 17 crore green cess collected by Mangaluru City Corporation during 2004-2017 isn't being used for providing a green cover to the city. It is used for some other purpose", he accused.
Corporator Manohar Kadri opposed the opinions of the environmental activists who were allegedly silent on the vast number of trees cut down during the building of apartments in the city. He said that the current extension work was of paramount importance as the traffic congestion in Nanthur junction was even affecting ambulances carrying patients in critical conditions.
Harish Raj, a NECF representative, sought information about the places where trees where being planted for the ones cut down in the name of development. "Where will the trees that can be transferred from the location be shifted to?" he asked. Activist Kishor Attavar highlighted the need of a ring road to alleviate the traffic issues in the Nanthoor junction.
Seeking public cooperation for places to plant more trees in the next three years for those cut down for the project, ACF Clifford Lobo assured that he would personally inspect how many trees among the ones marked for felling could be saved or translocated.
NHAI Manager Chandrashekhar said that the KPT-Nathur road would be 40 metre wide in the middle, along with an 8 metre wide service road. "The highway will go across an underpass and the vehicles travelling towards Bengaluru will take the service road. All necessary structural designs including underground sewage system has been planned in the underpass to avoid clogging", he said.
Bhuvan, a youth attending the meeting, said that it was of no use if a tree was planted in Vamanjoor for the one that was cut in Mangaluru as a tree also sheltered a vast amount of birds and insects. "Mangaluru has only 6.2% of tree cover while the actual amount essential for an urban area is 33%. So we must plan for planting more trees while trying to conserve the existing ones", he said.
Referring to the politicians' dreams to make a Singapore out of Mangaluru, environmental activist Jeeth Milan Roche reminded attendees that Singapore had 44% tree cover while Mangaluru had only 6.2%. "2 lakh people die due to air pollution every year in the country. And it’s wrong to say that trees cause accidents on the road. Trees must be saved, and caution must be exercised about pot holes and unscientific projects", he added.
Range Forest Officer (RFO) Rajesh Baligar, NHAI site engineer Naveen and plantation expert Ashika were present.
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None of Adani portfolio companies subject to any legal case: Group CFO on promoter indictment in US
New Delhi, Nov 23: None of Adani group portfolio companies, comprising 11 listed firms, have been accused of any wrongdoing, conglomerate's CFO Jugeshinder Robbie Singh said on founder and chairman Gautam Adani's indictment on bribery charges in the US.
In a post on X, Singh said the group would make a detailed comment on the US indictment once it gets counsel approvals.
Adani and seven other defendants, including his nephew Sagar Adani, allegedly agreed to pay about USD 265 million in bribes to Indian government officials between approximately 2020 and 2024 to obtain lucrative solar energy supply contracts on terms that were expected to yield USD 2 billion of profit over 20 years, according to an indictment unsealed in a New York court on Wednesday.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of the US has also charged Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani, executives of Adani Green Energy Ltd and Cyril Cabanes, an executive of Azure Power Global, for "conduct arising out of a massive bribery scheme".
"There is a lot of news and reports that will try to pick unrelated items and create a headline. My humble request is that we will respond in the fullness of time once we review in detail the matter as presented in the legal filing," Singh said.
He hastened to add that no court has ruled on the indictment, and as outlined by lawyers of the US Department of Justice, these are "allegations and the accused have a presumption of innocence".
The CFO, who was the first line of defence when US short-seller Hindenburg Research had accused the ports-to-power conglomerate of fraud in January 2023, said the group became aware of the "specificity" of the US indictment against founder and chairman Gautam Adani two days ago.
"We were aware that something is afoot (and in February 2024 144a offering circular in Risk Factors we disclosed as such. This was the first public issuance of any of our portfolio companies or their subsidiaries or joint venture companies after our annual results of 31st March 2023)," he said.
He, however, did not state what the company had disclosed in February 2024.
Adani Group, he said, has a portfolio of 11 public companies and "none are subject to indictment (i.e. defendants in any legal proceedings in the recent DOJ lawyer filings to a court in NYC)".
"None of the issuers (i.e. companies in our portfolio or specific issuers that are subsidiaries of the public companies) are accused of any wrongdoing in the said legal filing," he said.
The indictment "relates to one contract of Adani Green, which is roughly 10 per cent of overall business of Adani Green (there is a lot more precise and comprehensive detail of this which we will elaborate in an appropriate forum)," he said.
The statement comes two days after Gautam Adani was charged by US prosecutors over his role in an alleged years-long scheme to pay USD 265 million (about RS 2,200 crore) bribes to Indian officials to secure solar energy contracts. The conglomerate has denied the allegations, calling them baseless, and announced plans to seek legal recourse.
The Adani Family has 11 listed entities on the Indian stock exchanges - flagship incubator Adani Enterprises Ltd, electricity producer Adani Power Ltd, ports company Adani Ports & SEZ, power transmission firm Adani Energy Solutions Limited, renewable arm Adani Green Energy Ltd (AGEL), city gas distributor Adani Total Gas Ltd, commodities firm Adani Wilmar Ltd, media firm New Delhi Television Ltd and cement companies Ambuja Cements Limited, ACC Ltd, and Sanghi Industries Ltd.
"There is a lot of news and reports that will try to pick unrelated items and create a headline. My humble request is that we will respond in the fullness of time once we review in detail the matter as presented in the legal filing (Please note that no court has ruled on this and as outlined by lawyers of DOJ these are 'allegations and accused have a presumption of innocence'). We will make a more detailed comment once we get counsel approvals to discuss what we can in public on a matter that is sub-judice," he added.
