Hyderabad, April 8 -- The Chennai bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has refused to grant an interim stay on the construction of the Telangana government's ambitious Bharat Future City project.

The tribunal, however, issued notices to the Future City Development Authority (FCDA) and the Central Government, seeking their responses.

Petitioner's arguments

The petition was filed by social activist Donthi Narasimha Reddy, who challenged the project-also referred to as "Fourth City"-on the grounds that it was being undertaken without mandatory environmental clearances.

The petitioner's counsel argued that the government plans to develop the project across nearly 30,000 acres between the Srisailam and Nagarjunasagar highways. The pr...