By IANS
New Delhi : The Delhi High Court Friday ordered the Noida toll bridge authorities to clear the Yamuna riverbed of "illegal" Global Times Village and all other constructions, including the branch road leading to it from the "DND flyway" within 4 weeks.
A division bench of Chief Justice M.K. Sarma and Justice Rekha Sharma ordered Noida Toll Bridge Company Limited (NTBCL) to clear all construction carried out to hold the international exhibition on the Yamuna riverbed.
"The organisation should comply with the environment norms by not allowing construction within 300 meters from the edge of the river bed," said the bench.
The court's order followed after Yamuna Removal of Encroachments Monitoring Committee convener S.M. Agrawal told the bench that the Times Global Village, built was built on the Yamuna riverbed in violation of the Environment Act.
He said that the construction of the global village, which comprised several pavilions of various countries, besides dancing floors and shopping arcades etc has considerably affected the riverbed.
"There are evidence of huge earthwork having been carried out raising the natural surface level of the area by between one to two meters at several places," said the report submitted by the committee.
The fair was organised by NTBCL, Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation (DTTDC) and E-4 Entertainment – to organise the fair on commercial basis.
Senior counsel Harish Salve appearing for NTBCL agreed to remove all structures and assured the court that it would not allow any constructions within 300 metres from the river bed in future.
Inspired by the success of the Global Village in Dubai in 1995, the DTTDC in collaboration with the NTBCL had organised the Times Global Village fair in Delhi on the river bank since March 30, 2007 till May 4, 2007.
The license to organize the fair was granted by the licencing branch of the Delhi pol8ic3e to DTTDC, NTBCL and E-4 Entertainment.
Several Public Interest Petitions has been filed in the court seeking direction to the government to wind up the fair on the Yamuna riverbed as it violated various provisions of the Environment Act.x