New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Monday admitted for hearing a petition of the state-run National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for resuming work on its Lata Tapovan hydropower project.
It is among 24 projects that were halted by the Supreme Court last August in the wake of the Kedarnath tragedy last year since they were coming up within 100 km of eco-sensitive zone from the Gangotri, one of the origins of the Ganga river.
The bench of Justices Vikramjit Sen and Shiva Kirti Singh issued notice to the Centre and fixed further hearing on July 22 on the plea of NTPC to modify the Apex Court’s order to exempt the Tapovan project since it was an ongoing project having all green signals unlike other plants that were yet to commence work.
Besides the irreversible time and cost overrun, NTPC petition said prohibition on the further execution of the project of national importance would not be in the larger public interest.
