Construction at Rushikonda hill generates heat in Vizag

Visakhapatnam: The massive construction activity undertaken by the AP Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) to develop tourism at the sea-facing Rushikonda hill, one of the best picturesque locations in India, has raised a lot of heat here.

Social activists and Opposition parties are crying foul over the decision by the government to demolish existing cottages built in 2006 and construct ultra modern cottages and resorts on the hill by spending Rs190 crore. They say the hill is being totally destroyed deviating from the initial promise that the government is only rebuilding new structures in the place of old ones to enhance tourism quotient of the area and earn more revenue without tampering with the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) guidelines.

"We don't know what is happening there as the authorities have barricaded the entire area not allowing us to stage protest at the site," TDP State vice-president and former Minister Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy told Bizz Buzz after the police prevented an attempt to stage protest and plant trees at Rushikonda by the main Opposition on the occasion of World Environment Day.

TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu was also prevented during his last visit to the city from going to Rushikonda. A BJP team led by Rajya Sabha member GVL Narasimha Rao was recently stopped from proceeding towards the Rushikonda site.

However, YSRCP city president Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao, during whose tenure the construction of cottages and resorts atop Rushikonda hillock was taken up at a cost of Rs190 crore, blamed the Opposition for trying to gain political mileage over demolition of old cottages and decision to construct world-class resort.

There is buzz that after construction, the area will be handed over to a seven star hotel. Recently, the Supreme Court quashed an order passed by the National Green Tribunal to stop construction activity at Rushikonda. The stay was issued on a complaint lodged by dissident YSRCP MP from Narsapur K. Raghuramakrishna Raju.

The apex court held the view that NGT should not have proceeded with the order when the High Court was seized of the matter stating such conflicting orders would lead to 'anomalous situation.'

Earlier, former Chief Secretary LV Subrahmanyam had represented Governor Biswa Bhushan Harichandan to intervene and stop destruction of the hill for commercial purposes.

The construction activity taken up over the Rushikonda hilly terrain violates established environmental norms. "No land-use changes can be permitted in the VMRDA without public consultation and, in the specific case of hills and water bodies, no land-use change is permissible at all in the first instance." noted social activist and former IAS officer E.A.S. Sarma said in a series of representations, submitted to Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma and others.