HC wants details of meeting on DTC depot

Environmentalists objected to construction on Yamuna riverbed, saying it was only for Commonwealth Games.

The Delhi high court has asked the government to convey to it the outcome of meetings it held with various authorities on a plea filed by an environmentalist to remove the DTC Millennium Depot from the banks of river Yamuna.

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“The outcome of the meetings shall be filed along with an counter affidavit by March 21,” Bench of acting chief justice AK Sikri and justice RS Endlaw said. Standing counsel for the Delhi government, Najmi Waziri, submitted that the matter was getting attention and meetings have been convened with authorities like DDA and DTC on the issue.

On January 18, the HC had said “any construction carried out by DTC shall be at its own risk and peril” and would be subject to the outcome of the petition. Contending that the depot was built on the Yamuna riverbed, VK Jain of NGO Tapas said in the PIL that it was supposed to be a temporary structure for the Commonwealth Games.

He said the construction was against the master plan and zonal plan for the river and such concretisation would badly affect the water recharge capacity of the area and prove harmful for the river.

Jain got a boost in March last year when the DDA told the court that the depot was built in violation of the land use rules. DDA director (planning) Tapan Mandal, in an affidavit, said it had been built on the riverbed, which had been declared Zone O. In the Master Plan, Zone O is that area where only green development is permitted.