The Art of Living on Tuesday told the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that the allegations made against it over the World Culture Festival conducted on the banks of the Yamuna were “erroneous” as the expert committee “simply assumed” that the site where the event was held in March 2016 was a wetland. The foundation further argued that the condition of the site was “pathetic” even before the commencement of the festival.
‘ No statutory process’
Referring to a Survey of India map of 1985 and citing previous Supreme Court judgments, counsel appearing for the Art of Living said, “No statutory process has been undertaken identifying any wetlands within the event site. In the absence of such a statutory exercise, there cannot be any doubt that the event site did not have any wetlands whatsoever, in law.”
“It is submitted that the event site was in a sordid state, to say the least. Even with regard to the state of the floodplains in so far as debris dumping was concerned, the situation was admittedly no better. It is submitted that the committee has undertaken an exercise on a completely erroneous factual matrix,” read the statement submitted by the foundation.
The foundation, headed by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, further argued that it was impossible to assess compaction without conducting a soil test and contended that the committee had not undertaken the same. “The committee has not conducted any scientific test or geotechnical investigation of the soil density of the land covered by the event site before the WCF event or after the same. Merely on a visual assessment it is not possible to assess whether or not there has been compaction,” it said.
Govt, DDA to respond
Taking cognisance of the arguments, the NGT directed the AAP government, Delhi Development Authority and the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to respond to the claims that the debris at the site existed even before the event was held.
A Bench headed by NGT chairperson Swatanter Kumar asked the authorities concerned to make submissions regarding the same stating the extent of debris removed by each of them and the matter will be taken up subsequently over the next few days.