The National Green Tribunal at Chennai directed the State of Andhra Pradesh to pay a compensation of Rs 5 Crores for the destruction of mangrove forests in the coastal areas of Kakinada district in the state.
An NGT (Southern Zone) bench, comprising Justice K Ramakrishnan and Dr Korlapati Satyagopal, directed the YSRCP government to pay the interim compensation for the damaging around 18 acres of the mangroves forests.
It is known that mangroves play a key role in protecting the marine ecosystem and destruction of the same will have a major impact on marine ecology. However, the state government damaged the area in order to use it for the Government Housing scheme to distribute house sites to the landless poor.
The NGT order stated that the money should be deposited with the AP Coastal Zone Management Authority (APCZMA) and it could be used for the restoration, conservation and preservation of the existing mangroves in the coastal area.