Order

1. The road widening of the existing 2 lane on the East Coast Road into a 04 lane highway has triggered the filing of the above Original Application which concerns the construction work in the Odiyur Lagoon by the 2^nd respondent, National Highways Authority of India.

2. The respondents have placed yellow marker stone pillars inside the water body and started the levelling inside the water body. The said area is an intertidal zone and the said Odiyur Lagoon is tidally influenced. During the high tides, the water rises till the existing road. According to the applicant if not for the existing road the water would have spread further.

3. The 2^nd respondent has laid stones in the intertidal area which is classified as CRZ IB in the CZMP whereas the area is inter tidal mudflats which are biologically active and should be protected as CRZ IA area. In any kind of filling in the lagoon for widening of the road would affect the bird life in the lagoon which is a wetland. Therefore, the applicants have sought for removal of all the marker stones laid in the Odiyur Lagoon and restore the area to its original condition and further direct the respondent not to lay any road or highway in the Odiyur Lagoon or on the western side of the existing road.

4. The 2^nd respondent had filed its status report in which it is stated that the entire project is for developing various roads in the country under Bharatmala Pariyojana dated 03.1.2017. The list includes the project connecting Chennai to Puducherry stretch of 137 km. While proposing the alignment various technical aspects like designs, speed, level of service, connected traffic etc., were considered by them. The project stretch is designed in accordance with guidelines of Indian Roads Congress. The design speed of the project way is 100 km/hr. The improvement of geometric deficiencies, „S‟ Curves etc are taken care by the proposed re- alignment. In the proposed widening scheme, the alignment is re-

aligned to remove the geometric deficiencies and traffic safety hazards. New major bridge is proposed on the Right Hand Side (RHS) of the existing bridge. Land mass/debris retaining wall is proposed on RHS on the lake side to restrict the earth spill in lake portion and thus to safe guard the environment.

5. The respondent also stated that no ground water in the CRZ area shall be extracted to meet the water requirement and the temporary structures raised for construction activity shall be removed. NHAI also has proposed for widening of the proposed stretch towards Left Hand Side (LHS) i.e. opposite side of the Odaiyur Lake the existing 02 lane road of 07 mtrs is proposed to utilize for RHS carriageway i.e., traffic from Puducherry to Chennai side. It is proposed to provide additional width of 1.5 mtrs paved shoulder and 02 mtrs earthen shoulder to maintain uniformity with LHS carriageway. Further a continuous retaining wall is proposed along the edge of highway for a length of 01 km to avoid infringement of road with Lake area.

6. The only concern of the applicant was that the construction of the

04 lane highway ought not to go beyond the existing black topped extent of the road into the lagoon.

7. The NHAI has agreed for the re-alignment and filed a status report dated 21.07.2023. In the status report, it was mentioned that as per provisions of concessionaire agreement, a specific TCS has been proposed for Odaiyur Lake portion. Following the directions of this Tribunal during the hearings on a modified cross section has been arrived to shift the road away from Odaiyur Lake. Tentative cross section is submitted and the plan for lake portion will be arrived based on the detailed technical studies. As the change in alignment involves a lot of work such as study by consultant, independent expert, assessing land requirement, additional cost, approval of competent authority etc., the sketch will be prepared for the change in alignment only after the above study has been done.

8. As the NHAI has agreed on