DDA moves NGT against stay on construction at Qutab Golf Course

On July 12, a bench headed by Justice Jawad Rahim had restrained DDA from carrying out any activity after it had failed to respond to an NGO's plea alleging that concretisation of the lakes would adversely affect recharge of ground water in the Qutab Golf Course at the Lado Sarai area.

Seeking vacaction of the stay, DDA told the green panel that if the order was not vacated, it would cause a great loss to the public exchequer.

In its plea, filed through advocate Kush Sharma, DDA has contended that the five lakes, as alleged by the NGO, were already in existence since the inception of the golf course in 2000.

"Hence, the allegation that DDA is constructing new artificial lakes is outrageously false and the same is a figment of the petitioner's imagination having publicity- centric mind and have been made with a sole motive of just to gain publicity by interfering in the smooth operation of DDA's plan for renovation of the Qutub Golf Course.

"The renovation has been framed with a view to stop the wastage of water during watering on turf, for getting rid of contaminated grass and weeds, for planting variety of hybrid grass and to further ensure that sufficient green area is maintained within the Golf Course premises," the plea said.

DDA has contended that it tried to file its reply in the case which had annexures including certain maps of the site in question but had failed to do so due to non-conversion of maps in PDF format.

"Due to the new NGT guidelines for e-filing of documents, DDA tried to contact various photostat vendors to convert the maps to PDF format as required by the registry but due to non-availability of the technology in the nearby area, the maps could not be converted to PDF format and the reply could not be filed on time," it said.

The stay order of the green panel had come during the hearing of the plea by NGO CHETNA seeking a stay on such construction activity and asking the DDA to place on record the source of water that is intended to be used for the lakes.

The NGO had claimed that due to insufficient rainfall in Delhi, the artificial water bodies proposed to be constructed, cannot possibly be filled up on a sustainable basis by rainwater.

It said it had written a letter to DDA and the Chief Secretary of Delhi government informing them about the ongoing work to create five artificial lakes and requesting them to intervene and immediately stop the "ill-conceived project and criminal waste of public money."

"However, there has been no response to the said letters till date and the applicant is constrained to approach this tribunal," the plea had said.

Delhi residents can online track expenditure made on DDA infrastructure projects in their areas, as the urban body has developed a software for recording measurements and payments to its contractors. The 'e-MB software' facilitates quick payments, dispute- free measurements, permanent record of measurements along with latitude and longitudes of the place, ensuring a foolproof system to check the timeline of construction, material management and the quality of construction, the DDA said. "In order to have greater transparency and moral ethics relating to

"In order to have greater transparency and moral ethics relating to execution of works and related payments, the software has been put in public domain for review or reference of the public," it added. The online software can be accessed on the web -- www.dda.org.in/bms using username PUBLIC and password PUBLIC, the DDA said.

Delhi citizens, resident welfare associations can track "expenditure on projects" in their areas and they can post comments about the same.