NGT slams Delhi agencies for inaction on Mundka water body encroachments

Tribunal says replies are “evasive and vague”, summons senior officials on Nov 3 over failure to restore five water bodies despite 2022 orders.

Published on: Sep 25, 2025, 03:56:34 IST

By Jasjeev Gandhiok

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The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has pulled up agencies in Delhi for failing to remove encroachments and restore multiple water bodies in west Delhi’s Mundka, despite directions issued since 2022.

Resident’s 2022 plea said 5–6 water bodies lost to encroachment; tribunal notes inaction even after State Wetland Authority orders last October. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A bench of justice, Arun Kumar Tyagi, and expert member Dr Afroz Ahmad described the responses filed by agencies as “evasive and vague” and aimed at prolonging the hearing. It summoned key officials to appear physically or via video conference on November 3, including the member secretary of the State Wetland Authority, the vice-chairman of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the CEO of Delhi Jal Board (DJB), the managing director of Delhi State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation (DDSIIC), and the district magistrate (West) of Delhi.

“The State Wetland Authority had last year in October directed the landowningagencies to remove encroachment and restore and rejuvenate the water bodies, but no action worth the name has been taken… responses filed before this Tribunal… are, as usual in any other case, evasive and vague and filed with the intention to prolong the hearing,” the bench said in its September 24 order.

NGT has been hearing a plea since April 29, 2022, filed by a local resident alleging that five to six water bodies had vanished due to encroachments. Four of the identified water bodies fall under DDA and one under DSIIDC.

The tribunal noted that although the applicant provided khasra numbers on August 20, 2024, the Delhi government, DDA, and Punjabi Bagh SDM had not submitted details of action taken. It added that DSIIDC neither appeared nor filed a response.

No reaction from DDA, DJB, DSIIDC, or the Delhi government to NGT’s remarks was made public till the time of going to print.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jasjeev Gandhiok
Jasjeev Gandhiok is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times, where he covers environment, climate change, the clean energy transition and wildlife at the National Bureau. Gandhiok has over a decade of experience in journalism and is based in Delhi. He has reported extensively on Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). This includes the region's air pollution woes, a polluted Yamuna and on urban wildlife still thriving in the region. He joined HT in October 2021. Prior to that, he had five-year stint at The Times of India in Delhi, where he also covered Delhi, with a focus on environment and wildlife. Gandhiok has covered some recent events around the Capital too, ranging from the farmers' protests, the northeast Delhi riots and the CAA-NRC protests, reporting from the ground on all of these. He also travels across the country to report on how environment and climate change impact everyday life, while also writing on endangered species. His reports in 2019 on toxic leachate from Delhi's landfills led to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) taking suo motu cognisance and ultimately asking the state government to start bio-mining to flatten and remove all three landfills in the capital. He also closely tracks the implementation of government policies on climate, renewable energy and environmental protection. His focus remains on impactful, public-interest journalism which explains how environmental decisions affect people's everyday lives.Read More

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