By IANS
New Delhi : Delhi High Court Friday asked the city’s land licensing agency Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to explain the reasons for violating a judicial order by allowing concrete constructions on the ecologically fragile Yamuna river-bed.
A bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and Rekha Sharma directed DDA and DMRC to file the reasons for carrying out such large-scale constructions – such as the Commonwealth Games Village and metro station – by flouting the court orders.
The court had directed the authorities to plant trees and conserve the area as a green belt, but the authorities had destroyed it, the court observed.
“You will have to explain the reasons for flouting the orders,” said the bench while adjourning the matter till Nov 27. Advocate Sanjay Parikh appearing for the petitioner submitted that the government deliberately dumped the study by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), which had suggested preserving the 9,700 hectare area for recharging the ground water.
The NEERI report had suggested that the union government not allow any concrete construction in the area, but the authorities had constructed many buildings, said Parikh.
Submitting some documents before the court, he said the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) on Dec 14, 2006 had given the clearance for temporary construction to these authorities despite court ban.
The petition, by India’s ‘water man’ Rajendra Singh, the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach) and People’s Action, seeks immediate stay on all construction on the riverbed and urges the court to direct the authorities to restore the area as intended under the yet-to-be-notified River Regulation Zone.
The petition said the river ecosystem has invaluable significance and the wetland system and water recharge zone of the national capital needs to be protected.
Allowing construction activity to continue would lead to floods in low lying areas of Delhi, it warned, adding that DDA had gone ahead with clearing the area for the Games village despite expert advice against permanent structures on the riverbed.