City banquet halls under NGT lens

Taking note of pollution and traffic congestion during functions at banquet halls, farmhouses and hotels here, the National Green Tribunal ( NGT) has formed a committee to stop activities that lead to degradation of the environment.

It has also asked the committee to prepare an action plan in this regard within a month.

A bench of NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said marriage halls are violating norms by organising weddings and other functions without any permission.

The green panel formed a joint committee with representatives of civic bodies, the Central Ground Water Authority, the DJB, the police and the Delhi Pollution Control Committee.

The committee, which has to meet at least twice a month, will be headed by the Delhi government’s urban development secretary, the tribunal said.

In its first meeting, the panel has to prepare an action plan and lay down time lines for sewage disposal, groundwater extraction, rainwater harvesting, municipal solid waste management, systems for groundwater recharge.

It will also have to form a plan to check air quality due to traffic congestions and noise pollution because of use of DJ sets.

The tribunal said the committee would compile data of all such places where functions, including marriages, take place. The data should be published and appropriately regulated, it said.

“Regulate noise level at above places or per laid down norms. This includes regulation of DJ sets, loudspeakers and crackers etc. Compliance of Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, and sewage discharge, including decentralised waste processing facilities, installation of CCTV camera, GPS system in garbage collection vans etc...,” the bench said.