Pvt school in Anand Vihar penalised ₹1 lakh for installing illegal borewells

The action comes on multiple inspections carried out on an NGT order dated July 25, 2022, issued on a plea filed by a resident, who alleged the school was violating environmental norms by installing 12 borewells and a commercial RO system on its premises

New Delhi

Groundwater extraction is banned in the Capital, which faces water shortage every summer. (Representational photo/HT Archive)

Environment compensation of ₹1 lakh was levied on a private school in Anand Vihar, east Delhi, for illegally extracting groundwater, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) informed told the National Green Tribunal (NGT). The school was also made to install a rainwater harvesting system to help recharge the groundwater table, it said.

The action comes on multiple inspections carried out on an NGT order dated July 25, 2022, issued on a plea filed by a resident, Amit Sharma, who alleged the school was violating environmental norms by installing 12 borewells and a commercial RO system on its premises.

DPCC, in its report dated August 14, said multiple inspections were carried out in 2022 and 2023. “The revenue department has imposed an EC of ₹1 lakh on the school and the same has been realised,” DPCC said in its submission.

Groundwater can only be extracted in the Capital through borewells permitted by DJB. Any other extraction, be it for residential or commercial purposes, is illegal and attracts fines under the Water Act, 1974.

DPCC said it wrote to the school in February and April 2023 to install a rainwater harvesting system, and the same was made operational earlier this year.

“The DPCC requested the DJB (Delhi Jal Board) to carry out an inspection for the rainwater harvesting system and submit a report. Based on DJB’s report, DPCC again directed the school to make a rainwater harvesting system fully functional in September 2023,” the report said.

The school complied with the same and it was certified by DJB, which deemed the catchment area on the rooftop adequate, DPCC said.

In a related submission, DJB informed NGT this April that there were 20,552 illegal borewells in Delhi, of which 9,128 were in northwest Delhi, followed by 6,681 in the southwest part of the city. Around 12,000 of these were sealed, and action on 8,128 is underway, it had said.