Hyderabad, June 18 -- The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has refused to stay the works on the Bharat Future City project being developed by the Telangana government on the outskirts of Hyderabad as it was still in the nascent stage, people familiar with the development said on Wednesday.

The southern zone bench of the NGT at Chennai, comprising justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and Dr Prashant Gargava, on Tuesday observed that it may not be appropriate for the tribunal to intervene at the preliminary stage of a project that is being pursued through a vision document and a structured, planned approach.

The bench was hearing arguments on a petition filed by Hyderabad-based environmentalist and social scientist Donthi Narasimha Reddy, who alleg...