NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal has refused to pass an order on a plea by the Delhi government seeking its nod to create reservoirs on the Yamuna floodplain and asked statutory authorities to look into the matter.
A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said the NGT had no objection to any legitimate project which did not interfere with the rejuvenation of the Yamuna and the protection of its floodplains.
“The tribunal, however, can express no opinion on the merits of any particular project. Merits of such projects have to be gone into by concerned statutory authorities in accordance with the laid down procedure,” the bench said.
The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by the Irrigation and Flood Control Department of the Delhi government for the creation of water bodies or reservoirs in the Yamuna’s floodplain from Palla to Wazirabad by retaining excess floodwater of the river during the monsoon season for recharging groundwater.
The plea said the proposal had been approved by the principal committee constituted by the tribunal, subject to conditions, including that the proposal would be carried out as a pilot project at one location to study the techno-economic viability and to identify the quantum of groundwater recharged.
With PTI inputs