NGT directs removal of cleaning, removal of encroachment from Sahibabad drain within six months

Last May, the green court had declared illegal all constructions/encroachments and coverings on the drain bed and a 12 metre buffer zone from the edge of Sahibabad drain in Ghaziabad and directed that these be demolished irrespective of previous permissions given by the Ghaziabad municipal corporation

The National Green Tribunal (NGT), in response to a petition filed by a city resident, has directed the Ghaziabad officials to expeditiously restore the city’s major Sahibabad drain and make free it of pollution and encroachments within six months.

Drains covered by concrete on the Sahibabad-Link Road stretch. (Sakib Ali/HT PHOTO)

Last May, the green court had declared illegal all constructions/encroachments and coverings on the drain bed and a 12 metre buffer zone from the edge of Sahibabad drain in Ghaziabad and directed that these be demolished irrespective of previous permissions given by the Ghaziabad municipal corporation.

As an alternative to the demolition, the tribunal on May 2022 said the agencies could lay a suitable parallel sewer line“enabling free flow and unpolluted stormwater drain” by October 1, 2022.

Thereafter, a committee of officials, including those from the Ghaziabad municipal corporation, held a meeting on July 1, 2022, and decided that laying a parallel drain was not feasible owing to paucity of land along the Sahibabad drain and the absence of 100% tapping upstream of the Sahibabad drain.

Haji Arif, the petitioner, moved the tribunal in 2014 and again filed a contempt petition last year. The latest directions were issued by NGT on February 10.

“Thus, in absence of any other option, the directions of the tribunal dated May 13, 2022, have to be carried out for removing illegal constructions falling in the buffer zone (12 metres from the edge of the drain) and preventing pollution of the drain by stopping discharge of untreated sewage, maintaining drain as exclusively storm water,” the tribunal said in its order on February 10.

It also directed Ghaziabad officials to “accordingly take action expeditiously and restore the drain free from pollution and encroachments within six months”.

The directions are likely to affect over two dozen major companies, hotels, restaurants, developer sites, and showrooms which have made encroachments, constructions or covered the drain that is estimated to have an average width of about 50-60 feet and discharge of about 127 million litres per day.

“The encroachment is in the form of pillars, placement of slabs by different establishments and even encroachment of spaces in form of parking and also using spaces for private purposes. The agencies have time and again put the issue of removal of encroachments on a back burner for reasons best known to them. With the latest directions, compliance must be ensured,” petitioner Haji Arif said.

With regard to the constructions/encroachments on the bed and 12m buffer zone, it was observed by the committee that all permissions were given by Ghaziabad municipal corporation prior to 2012.

But the court held that such permissions “are not of any consequence”.

“We will carry out different directions given by the tribunal including those for removal of encroachment. We will carry out more plantations and ensure that the sewage treatment functions properly and that no sewage gets mixed in the stormwater drain. The committee did not find the alternative plan feasible,” said Nitini Gaur, municipal commissioner.