AoL questions panel’s findings on floodplains

‘Satellite image doubtful’

New Delhi, May 15: The Art of Living (AoL), headed by spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, on Monday questioned the findings of an expert committee of the National Green Tribunal on the damage caused to the Yamuna floodplains after a threeday cultural event organised by it.

The AoL told a bench headed by NGT Chairperson justice Swatanter Kumar that it was a “prerequisite” for the seven- member expert panel to know about the status of the floodplains prior to the event before coming to the conclusion that any damage was caused by holding it there last year.

It also raised doubts over the satellite images used by the experts committee headed by Shashi Shekhar, secretary of the ministry of Water Resources, to estimate the damage.

“The committee, while submitting its report on July 28 last year, has relied on a single Google satellite image of September 15, 2015. There were multiple Google images available between 2000-2015, but the committee has chosen only one image out of all the pictures, which was taken during peak monsoons.”

“At that point of the year, there were heavy rains at that site and selection of that image to ascertain the damage is questionable,” the AOL counsel claimed. The three-day World Culture Festival was held in March last year. Advocate Nikhil Sakhardande, appearing for AoL, submitted that the experts committee appointed by the NGT had admitted in the report dated November 28, 2016 that it did not know the condition of the site before the event.

He asked how the panel could assess the impact of the festival on the floodplains when it wasn’t aware of its condition before the event.