Green court forms monitoring panel on Yamuna cleaning

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal on Thursday formed a monitoring committee on the cleaning of the Yamuna and directed it to submit an action plan on the issue.

An NGT bench headed by chairperson A K Goel appointed retired expert member B S Sajwan and former Delhi chief secretary Shailaja Chandra as members of the committee while directing them to submit action plan by September and a detailed report in the matter by December 31. The green panel asked the Haryana and Uttar Pradesh governments to assist the committee on Yamna rejuvenation.

The Tribunal directed the authorities to take strict action against encroachments on the Yamuna floodplains.

It also directed the Delhi Development Authority and the Delhi Jal Board to hold a meeting on July 30 for identifying land for setting up of a sewage treatment plant on a drain which falls under phase-II of the Yamuna cleaning programme.

The NGT had earlier rapped the Delhi Jal Board over cleaning of the Yamuna and had said there has been no "meaningful progress" on the ground in the last three years.

The green panel had noted that the work on 14 sewage treatment plants (STPs) had not even begun. These were supposed to be completed by March 2017 as per the court's January 13, 2015 judgment. The STPs would treat the effluents and ensure no pollutants enter the river.

"In spite of proceedings in the case in the last three years, there is no meaningful progress at the ground level. It does appear that the present in-charge may not be competent enough to handle the issue. Today, we are in a failure situation. We don't want useless and incompetent people, who have failed us, the people and the country," a bench, headed by the NGT Chairperson, had said.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the situation, the tribunal had directed the CEO of the Delhi Jal Board to put in place a suitable officer who can ensure that work on the 14 STPs starts within a month.