The Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court on Friday directed the Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati-led Uttar Pradesh government to stop all construction activities along the banks of the Gomati river in Lucknow.
The order was likely to pose a stumbling block in the accomplishment of Chief Minister Mayawati's dream projects, which were at certain points extending into the Gomati riverbed.
Taking serious note of the issues raised in the petition, a division bench comprising Justice D P Singh and Justice Y K Sangal told the government to promptly suspend all construction activities within 100 metres of the riverbed.
The bench has also directed the Union ministry of environment to submit a detailed report on the issue within two months. It has however, allowed the administration to build a weir in the downstream as also to "channelise" an old storm water drain known as the Ghazi Uddin Haider Canal that was being covered to make room for an ampitheatre adjacent to the riverbank.
Even as state chief standing counsel Devendra Upadhaya maintained that the ampitheatre was more than 110 metres away from the riverbed, the petition alleged that large part of the construction was being carried out on the riverbed itself.
"We are confident that the construction undertaken along the Gomati river banks as a part of the riverfront beautification drive, was well above 100 metres from the riverbed", Upadhaya told rediff.com in Lucknow.
