NGT Directs Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary To Comply With Its Orders Issued In Light Of Yamuna Monitoring Committee's Recommendations

The National Green Tribunal has on Friday asked Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary to comply with Tribunal's previous orders to evolve mechanism to deal with discharge of untreated sewage, on recommendations of the Yamuna Monitoring Committee (YMC)

The order has been issued in a plea filed seeking directions to take remedial action to prevent untreated sewage or effluent being discharged in the storm water drains in Karkarmodel, in Ghaziabad.

The Tribunal in the present case, observed that the issue raised has already been dealt with by NGT through its order dated 27th Jan 2021 in the case of Manoj Mishra vs. Union of India, relating to remedial action to prevent pollution of river Yamuna and drains and tributaries connected thereto in Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

The Tribunal had appointed the Yamuna Monitoring Committee (YMC) in relation to State of Uttar Pradesh, which gave its recommendations. Several recommendations were made including an Independent assessment of flow in all the drains reaching Yamuna and formation of an action plan for setting up STPs to bridge the gap with definite and monitorable timelines.

The Committee had also recommended stoppage of all sewage from sewered areas as per the Action Plan and implementation of Septage management in all areas which are not sewered.

The Tribunal directed the State of Uttar Pradesh to take further action in terms of the Committee's recommendations to be monitored by Oversight Committee headed by Justice SVS Rathore, former Judge of the Allahabad High Court at Lucknow.

In furtherance of the Committee's report and in consideration of its recommendations, the Tribunal had directed the Chief Secretary, NCT of Delhi, in coordination with other authorities such as, Additional Chief Secretary Urban Development, DDA, etc and the Chief Secretaries of Haryana and UP may personally monitor the progress, by evolving effective administrative mechanism to handle grim situation caused by years of neglect.

The Tribunal noted that the Causes of failure of existing mechanism and remedial measures required to be addressed in the light of reports of the Committee, and needed to be further overseen at National level by the Central Monitoring Committee, headed by Secretary Jalshakti.

The Tribunal had also directed constitution of River Rejuvenation Committees in all the States/UTs, action plans for restoration of the polluted river stretches were asked to be framed and executed under the oversight of the Chief Secretaries of the States and UTs. The RRCs of Delhi, Haryana and UP were asked to accordingly monitor execution of the action plans with proper inter-departmental coordination, to remedy the polluted stretches of river Yamuna in their respective jurisdiction, subject to oversight of the Chief Secretaries on quarterly basis,

The Tribunal has therefore observed that in view its previous order, no separate order is necessary on the present application, as the matter has already been dealt with.

The Tribunal also directed a copy of the order order to be forwarded to the Chief Secretary, Uttar Pradesh by e-mail for compliance.

The order has come in a petition filed by Sushil Raghav seeking establishment of a sewerage network and tapping of sewage in Karkarmodel area of Ghaziabad wherein more than 1 lakh people are affected.

The present petition filed by Advocate Akash Vashishtha, sought to raise substantial questions related to environment arising out of the non-compliance of the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. The plea stated that huge quantities of sewage and wastewater are incessantly discharged by the households on the open land, roads and storm water drains in the Karkarmodel village, situated in Ghaziabad, due to the failure of the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation in establishing a sewerage network in the area. The continuous flow of sewage and the consequent deposition of silt are contaminating the groundwater of the area.

According to the petitioner, the discharge of domestic sewage and wastewater on the open land, roads and storm water drains are in complete violation of Section 24(1)(a) of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 as well as in teeth of several Orders and judgements of Supreme Court of India and NGT.

The plea further stated that the Yamuna Monitoring Committee, set up by NGT, through its order dated 7th Jan 2019, had directed the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation and the Jal Nigam to prepare an action plan to tap the smaller drains and Sahibabad drain and treat the waste water generated. However, the said action plan, has not been implemented upon, yet and the drains are lying untapped and sewage is flowing untreated.

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