The CPCB itself has been given a month’s time to publish the guidelines for restoration water bodies, not presently protected by any national legislation which protects water bodies more than 2.5 acres in size.
Gurugram: The National Green Tribunal (NGT), last week, instructed all states and Union territories to follow Haryana’s example and create detailed inventories of water bodies not already protected by any law, review their existing framework for restoration, and submit action plans to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) within three months.
The CPCB itself has been given a month’s time to publish the guidelines for restoration water bodies—between 0 to 2.5 acres in size—not presently protected by any national legislation, such as the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017, which protects water bodies more than 2.5 acres in size.
The development comes after the State of Haryana, the Haryana Pond and Waste Water Management Authority (HPWWMA), and the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) submitted multiple reports between March 2017 and April 2019, comprehensively mapping all water bodies in the state (over 16,600, with 826 in Gurugram district), verifying them against revenue records, satellite images and through field visits.
The water bodies, which include lakes, village ponds, traditional water-harvesting structures, and low-lying areas prone to water-logging, have also been assigned unique identification numbers (UIDs). The GMDA’s report also notes the ownership patterns of these water bodies – whether public or private – and the possibility for their revival.
“To give effect to ‘Precautionary’ principle and ‘Sustainable Development’ principle (which are required to be enforced by this Tribunal under Section 20 of the NGT Act) we direct all the States and UTs to review the existing framework of restoration all the water bodies,” states NGT’s May 10 order (a copy of which is with the Hindustan Times).
The directive is part of a 2015 petition filed by city-based activist Sarvadaman Oberoi regarding degradation of the Ghata lake bed in Gurugram. Part of the city’s arterial storm-water drainage network, the lake, in recent years, has been sectioned off for development by the Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP), with high-rises now taking up the space of the once 350-acre natural water body.
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