Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding rejuvenation of river Yamuna, 09/01/2024
Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of Nizamuddin West Association Vs Union of India & Others dated 09/01/2023.
The matter related to the issue of rejuvenation of river Yamuna.
In the proceedings dated October 17, 2023, the Tribunal had considered various reports and had found that the situation regarding cleaning of river Yamuna was far from satisfactory.
The NGT, January 9, 2024 considered the reports filed by the state of Haryana, NCT Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and called it "deficient".
The court pointed out that in the case of Delhi, out of 22 drains meeting river Yamuna, only nine drains have been tapped. Untapped 13 drains are still discharging huge quantities of sewage (2976.4 MLD). Najafgarh and Shahdara drains which are the major source of sewage discharge (507.4 MGD), are said to be not feasible for interception and the report does not disclose any timeline for completion of Interceptor Sewer Project to divert flow of these two drains. There is a gap of 222 MGD in sewage treatment thus untreated sewage is being discharged into Yamuna, the court pointed out.
In the case of Haryana, the court pointed out treated and untreated sewage are mixed together and this makes all the efforts futile. The Haryana report does not provide the location of STPs with respect to each town and in context of each drain joining river Yamuna and connectivity of 378,866 households to the sewer lines is yet to be provided.
While in the case of Uttar Pradesh, out of 14 drains in Ghaziabad, only one drain has been tapped and one drain in NOIDA remains untapped. Ninty (90) MLD of treated sewage, instead of being utilised, is simply discharged into Ghazipur drain which is meeting Yamuna. Untreated sewage of 150 MLD is reaching Yamuna via river Hindon and data on fecal coliform for STPs in Noida has not been disclosed.
The NGT directed the state of Haryana, NCT Delhi and Uttar Pradesh to furnish the requisite information and file a fresh report within a period of four weeks.