Hearing a plea filed by the Delhi government, the tribunal asked statutory authorities to look into the matter.
NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal, upon hearing a plea by Delhi Government, refused to pass an order seeking its affirmation to create reservoirs on Yamuna floodplains. It then asked concerned authorities to look into the matter.
Heading a bench, the NGT chairperson, Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, said the NGT has no objections to legitimate projects which will help rejuvenate Yamuna and protect its floodplains.
“The tribunal, however can express no opinion on merits of any particular project. Merits of such projects need to be addressed to the statutory authorities in accordance with the laid down procedure,” the bench said.
The plea was filed by the irrigation and flood control department of the Delhi government for creation of water bodies or reservoirs in the Yamuna floodplain by retaining excess flood water of the river Yamuna during the monsoon season for recharging the groundwater from Palla to Wazirabad.
According to the plea, the proposal has been approved by the principal committee constituted by this tribunal, subject to conditions, including that the proposal would be carried out as a pilot project in one location only. Its main concern was to study the techno-economic viability and to identify the quantum of the ground water recharged.
One of the conditions imposed by the committee read, “Removal of silt to be carried out in a regulated and limited manner, so as to keep the morphology of the river undisturbed. Sufficient safeguard needs to be built for implementation of the project to ensure that no misuse takes place through unauthorised activities such as extraction of sand and other natural resources.”
The petition also claimed that this project would not harm the main direction of this tribunal for rejuvenation of the Yamuna and is to be executed subject to conditions imposed by the committee.