Storm water drain cleared of debris in village Khampur village, Delhi: Report to the NGT
Factual and action taken report on behalf of Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) in the matter of Prem Prakash Prajapati Vs Union of India.
Prem Prakash Prajapati, President of Senior Citizen Forum for Environment filed a petition before the National Green Tribunal regarding removal of a storm water drain by the contractor of the NHAI at the time of widening of the highway without making an alternate arrangement for the domestic waste water and septic tank water of village Khampur, Delhi situated at 25-26 kms on NH 44.
As a result of removal of the drain entire waste water of village has accumulated in excavated land of proposed service road contaminating ground water, causing foul smell and posing serious health hazards to local residents besides damaging the environment.
A joint inspection by a team of DPCC, NHAI and Revenue Department officials was conducted July 29, 2022. During the inspection, it was observed by the inspecting team that a project of widening of National Highway 44 for converting it into a 8 lane highway from Mukarba Chowk, Delhi to Panipat, Haryana was being undertaken. Construction of the proposed 10 m wide service road is also part of said national highway.
During the inspection, NHAI officials told the inspection team that for widening /construction of the proposed service road, they have demolished the encroachment done by local people in the area. A stretch of road was found excavated for construction of drain which was observed during the inspection. A stretch of road was found excavated for construction of drain.
In this regard, NHAI officials stated that work has been stopped after protest by the local villagers due to demolition and layout of construction of drain. To discharge the waste water of the village, NHAI has laid a pipeline to connect the village drain with the highway storm drain. Some garbage/mixed construction and demolition waste was found dumped near the storm drain. This had choked the under construction stretch of drain which needed to be cleaned for proper domestic waste water/effluent flow. During inspection, NHAI representative was asked to take necessary action to remove the dumped garbage from the site and to clean and desilt the storm water drain for proper effluent flow.
The NHAI in its action taken report said that garbage and mixed C&D waste has been removed and work of de-silting the drain in village Khampur has been completed.
Note: The report of August 17, 2022 was uploaded to the NGT site, October 4, 2022