NGT tells states, UTs to emulate Haryana
The National Green Tribunal (NGT), last week, instructed all states and Union territories (UTs) to follow Haryana’s example and create detailed inventories of water bodies not already protected by any law, review their existing framework for restoration, and submit action plans to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) within three months.
The CPCB itself has been given a month’s time to publish guidelines to restore water bodies—between 0 and 2.5 acres in size—not presently protected by any national legislation, such as the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, which protects water bodies bigger than 2.5 acres in size.
The development comes after the State of Haryana, the Haryana Pond and Waste Water Management Authority (HPWWMA), and the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) submitted multiple reports between March 2017 and April 2019, comprehensively mapping all water bodies in the state (over 16,600, with 826 in Gurugram district), verifying them against revenue records, satellite images and through field visits.
The water bodies, which include lakes, village ponds, traditional water-harvesting structures, and low-lying areas prone to waterlogging, have also been assigned unique identification numbers (UIDs). The GMDA’s report also notes the ownership patterns of these water bodies— whether public or private—and the possibility for their revival.
ORDER SIGNIFICANT IN LIGHT OF NATIONWIDE TREND OF WATER BODIES BEING USURPED FOR REAL ESTATE
The directive is part of a 2015 petition filed by city-based activist Sarvadaman Oberoi regarding the degradation of the Ghata lake bed in Gurugram. Part of the city’s arterial stormwater drainage network, the lake, in recent years, has been sectioned off for development by the Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP), with high-rises now taking up the space of the once 350-acre natural water body.
Its significance can be gauged in light of the nation-wide trend of water bodies being usurped for real estate. Experts said this phenomenon is aggravating issues of groundwater loss, urban flooding and soil erosion, among other adverse impacts to environment.
Nivedita Sharma, lawyer for the petitioner, said the NGT’s order was a welcome move, if only on paper. “It upholds that all water bodies are ecologically valuable. India’s wetland laws, for example, do not protect water bodies that are smaller than 2.5 acres in size. Now, the NGT, in this ruling, has upheld that water bodies of any size also deserve protection,” she said.
However, some experts displayed their scepticism. Chetan Agarwal, an environment analyst who was part of the GMDA’s survey team, said, “The order is positive. What remains to be seen is whether the states will follow through.