73% water bodies in Ghaziabad encroached, NGT directs UP officials to prepare work plan

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has come down heavily on officials of Uttar Pradesh and has directed officials to convene meetings with all district magistrate

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has come down heavily on officials of Uttar Pradesh and has directed officials to convene meetings with all district magistrate within a month to address the issue of protection of water bodies and also to prepare a uniform action plan which will be applicable throughout the state of Uttar Pradesh.

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The tribunal was hearing a petition filed by Sushil Raghav, city-based environmentalist, who had moved NGT i in March with a plea to free up encroachment of ponds and other water bodies in Ghaziabad district. He said that there were about 1200 water bodies in the district as per revenue records and about 400 of these were completely encroached.

The tribunal, during a hearing of the petition on October 29, had come down heavily on officials and has also asked the UP chief secretary to file an action taken report by February 28, 2021. The order was uploaded on November 2.

In response to the petition, Ghaziabad district magistrate on October 28 filed an affidavit before the tribunal and maintained that 251 ponds/water bodies had been identified under the jurisdiction of municipal corporation area (146) and three tehsils of Loni (2), Sadar (44) and Modinagar (59) that were encroached.

The affidavit, which is now part of the court records, also mentions that 49 ponds were free from encroachment while another 19 had partial encroachment. Around 183 ponds, or nearly 72.9% of water bodies in Ghaziabad, were fully encroached or disputed.

The affidavit was filed by district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey.

“We have submitted the affidavit before the tribunal and will abide by all directions given by NGT. We have also initiated the process of freeing up encroached ponds and all efforts will be taken up in this regard,” Pandey, said.

However, the tribunal came down heavily on officials during the hearing and expressed displeasure over the state of affairs related to preservation of water bodies.

“Having seen alarming level of encroachments at Ghaziabad, it is not difficult to assume that there are similar encroachments/damage to water bodies throughout Uttar Pradesh. This needs attention of authorities at the state level and special planning and drive is necessary for identification and conservation of such water bodies for enforcement of rule of law and protection of environment (sic),” the tribunal said in its order.

“It seems that orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court and this tribunal on the subject are not receiving any attention. It is high time that the issue is seriously addressed. We also find that the authorities are stuck up in cumbersome procedure of revenue law, without invoking prompt and summary procedure of environmental law. There is no monitoring at higher level (sic),” the order further added.

Raghav said that the numbers indicated in the affidavit were actually less than the total number of encroached water bodies in the state.

“As per our petition and revenue records there are about 1200 ponds/water bodies and about 400 of these were encroached. We will contest the contents of affidavit in due course of hearing. It is high time that all the water bodies are made encroachment free and restored. Otherwise, the groundwater recharge is getting affected,” Raghav, said.