NEW DELHI: As questions mount over unchecked mining along the Yamuna floodplains, a glaring administrative gap has come to light, Delhi currently lacks both a functional State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and a State Level Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC), key statutory bodies responsible for evaluating environmental clearances within the state.
The Environment Department of Delhi informed the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that these bodies have been defunct since September 2024, when their tenure expired without reconstitution. In the absence of these panels, all environmental clearance cases in the capital are being routed through the Union environment ministry’s central Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC), which handles such matters on a national scale.
The issue came to light during a hearing on a suo motu case taken up by the NGT, based on a newspaper’s report from November 2024 that exposed illegal sand mining along the Yamuna. The report revealed that miners had built a road across the river between Delhi and Ghaziabad near Panchayara village, highlighting administrative ambiguity and enforcement lapses
across state borders.
“This vacuum in regulatory oversight is deeply concerning,” said an environmental expert familiar with the matter. “Without SEIAA and SEAC, Delhi loses its localized filter for environmental impact assessments. National-level committees may lack the contextual understanding of Delhi’s unique ecological sensitivities.”
The District Magistrate of North East Delhi, in a reply to the NGT dated April 30, stated that no permission had been granted for sand mining along the Yamuna within Delhi’s jurisdiction.
However, they acknowledged receiving communications from Ghaziabad authorities, including a March 2025 letter with specific geo-coordinates of suspected illegal activity at Sungarpur, a locality on the Delhi side of the river.
The response indicated that these inputs were forwarded to the relevant police and district authorities, and claimed regular inspections were being conducted. Despite this, no vehicle seizures or FIRs were registered last year, raising doubts about enforcement effectiveness.
Ironically, Ghaziabad authorities maintain that the mining is taking place on Delhi’s side, further blurring jurisdictional accountability.
Environmentalists warn that without reinstating the SEIAA and SEAC, Delhi risks allowing environmentally harmful activities to slip through the cracks. “The Yamuna floodplains are ecologically critical. We can’t afford to leave decisions affecting them to bodies with a bird’s-eye view when what’s needed is a microscope.”
With NGT pressing for answers, the Delhi government now faces urgent pressure to restore its environmental oversight infrastructure before further damage is done.