Above: Photo courtesy www.periyartigerreserve.org

The Supreme Court on Monday (December 4) cancelled the “mega car parking” project in the area around the Periyar Tiger Reserve near the Mullaperiyar dam reservoir. The top court while issuing notice said that “construction was not allowed in any form”.

The plea filed by the state of Tamil Nadu had challenged the NGT order had allowed Kerala to go ahead with various construction projects in the Periyar Tiger Reserve.

According to The Hindu, the state of Tamil Nadu has said in the plea that the car parking project was located in the area leased to Tamil Nadu. The project, which involves various supplementary construction activities, would environmentally affect the catchment area, the water spread area of the dam and consequently the waters of the Mullaperiyar dam reservoir, used for drinking and irrigation purposes by the people of five districts of Tamil Nadu.

—India Legal Bureau