District-level committee to probe construction on Ghamroj bundh

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has constituted a district-level committee to look into the “alleged illegal and unauthorised excavation” of the Ghamroj bundh,

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has constituted a district-level committee to look into the “alleged illegal and unauthorised excavation” of the Ghamroj bundh, a traditional water harvesting structure which runs for about two kilometres along the Sohna Road in Ghamroj village. Hindustan Times had reported on October 12 that a portion of the bundh had been excavated to make room for a rest area that is being built as part of the National Highways Authority of India’s (NHAI) upcoming toll complex on NH-248A.

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Through an order dated November 9, the NGT has constituted a three-member committee including the Haryana State Pollution Control Board’s (HSPCB) regional officer for Gurugram, the district forest officer (DFO) and the deputy commissioner, to “look into the grievance” and submit a compliance report by early next month.

The NGT took cognizance of the matter following a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by Prem Mohan Gaur, a resident of Hajjipur village on Sohna-Palwal road, who frequents Ghamroj and noticed the bundh being excavated in August.

Gaur’s petition alleges that excavation of the Ghamroj bundh is in contradiction of Sohna’s Master Plan 2031, which states that the bundh would be retained in its current state. An explanatory note issued in this regard by the town and country planning department on November 15, 2012, mentions, “Sohna Town is surrounded by Aravalli Ranges on eastern & western side. In the rainy season, run-off from these ranges passes through proposed urbanization through barsati Nallahs namely Mehandwara Nadi. Three bundhs namely Sohna bundh, Mohmmadpur bundh and Ghamroj bundh exist on the western side of the town to check the run-off and for recharging the underground water table. All the three existing bundhs and alignment of the tributaries of Mehandwara Nadi / Nallah have been retained as such in the Development Plan on the request of the Irrigation Department (sic).”

Gaur also alleged that work to excavate the bundh had commenced without written permission of the irrigation department, which, NHAI officials confirmed, was the case.

Vikas Mittal, technical manager, NHAI, said on Tuesday, “We started excavating the bundh only after conducting site inspections along with the irrigation department, who gave us approval to go ahead and make alterations to the structure. We have not yet received any written confirmation from them, but they had, in principle, approved the structural changes to the bundh.”

Tampering with the structural integrity of the bundh — which arrests water run-off from Aravalli hills that skirt around the village — may pose adverse consequences, such as flooding, and may negatively affect groundwater recharge in the area, environmentalists have warned.

On October 20, Gaur submitted a representation to the deputy commissioner, the pollution control board and the forest department, but did not receive a response in the matter.

The NGT’s principal bench, headed by chairman Adarsh Kumar Goel, took cognizance of this and directed the district administration to “look into the grievance and take appropriate action in accordance with the law.”

The NGT order states, “According to the applicant, the construction of road will result in the demolition of bundh affecting a water body in violations of law laid down in Hinch Lal Tiwari vs Kamla Devi (2001). There will be further violation of the Sohna Master Plan , 2031. This will also affect forest area in violation of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980.”

Shakti Singh, regional officer, HSPCB, which is the nodal agency for compliance in the matter, said, “We will follow the NGT’s instructions. The committee has not yet decided the merits of the case, so it is too soon to comment on that. We will submit our report to the NGT as instructed and make sure that any violations are dealt with appropriately.”

The deputy commissioner and forest officer were unavailable for comment.