GMDA comes up with sewage action plan to stop discharge into Yamuna
Gurugram The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has submitted a new action plan for improving drainage facilities and construction of sewage treatment
Gurugram The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has submitted a new action plan for improving drainage facilities and construction of sewage treatment plants (STPs) to the office of chief secretary (CS), Haryana government, on Thursday.
The move comes in compliance of the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) order issued on September 11 and it has to be mandatorily submitted to the NGT-appointed Yamuna monitoring committee by December 12.
“We have stopped discharge of untreated sewage into leg 1, 2 and 3 of city drains to a large extent and our teams are working to stop it completely by June next year. We have taken this initiative on the directions of the NGT. Also, we are to construct additional STPs of 90 million litres daily (MLD), for which we have sought time till December 2023. Broadly, we have submitted these two points in the sewage action plan,” said Lalit Arora, GMDA chief engineer, adding that phytoremediation of drains is to start from next week.
Chief secretary Kesni Anand Arora will review the plan after the state assembly elections, scheduled for Monday. “After the assembly election, I will review the sewage action plan submitted by the GMDA, which has been making good efforts to improve the city drains and STPs by following NGT directions,” said Arora, adding the NGT order will be complied with.
Through various public interest litigations (PIL) over the last few years, the NGT has been constantly monitoring the sewage disposal system of Gurugram, expressing its displeasure with the local authority for failing to fix the problem.
An official of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) familiar with the matter said that the issue first cropped up as a high-priority matter in 2012 and the tribunal noted that the local authority did not take constructive efforts to stop untreated discharge of sewage in drains leading to the Yamuna.
“Local authority failed all these years to stop discharge of untreated sewage by people in drains and in open areas — a major concern. The tribunal, in its final decision on September 11, turned down GMDA’s previous sewage action plan seeking three years’ time to construct additional STPs and stop illegal discharge of sewage in drains. The NGT set a deadline of December 2020, asking the government to clean open drains, meanwhile, to make them free from contamination,” the official said.
In case the NGT turns down the action plan again, officials said that the Haryana government will have to approach the tribunal through a petition, seeking adequate time for constructing the STPs.