NGT takes cognisance of The Hindu report on Yamuna floodplains

NGT addresses incomplete Yamuna floodplain demarcation in Delhi, highlighting encroachment issues and environmental violations, with next hearing on August 7.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has taken a suo motu cognisance of a report published in The Hindu highlighting that the demarcation of the Yamuna floodplains in Delhi— a basic step to help identify and protect its sensitive ecosystem from encroachment— is incomplete nine years after it ordered the authorities to do it.

The next hearing over the issue has been fixed for August 7. 

The report had mentioned that while the Delhi government had claimed in its submissions to the NGT that “100% physical demarcation of a major stretch of the floodplains city has been done”, visits to the sites in question and interviews with officials have confirmed that major gaps persist.

“The news item indicates the violation of the Water Prevention and Control of Pollution Act, 1974 and the Environment Protection Act, 1986. The news item raises substantial issues relating to compliance of the environmental norms and the implementation of the provisions of scheduled enactment,” the NGT’s Principal Bench headed by chairperson Prakash Shrivastava, judicial member Arun Kumar Tyagi and expert member A. Senthil Vel said in an observation, dated May 21.

The tribunal said the news item further states that nine years after the NGT ordered the identification of encroachments on the floodplains, the process was not initiated even after the devastating 2023 floods.

“The article states as per the latest satellite images, illegal permanent constructions have only increased since the NGT’s landmark judgment in 2015,” it said.