Review meet on restoration of Badshahpur drain

The chief secretary to the Haryana government, DS Dhesi, Sunday held a meeting with the deputy commissioner of Gurugram and officials of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) and Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) to review their work on implementing the orders passed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on the Badshahpur nullah.

The Badhshapur nullah is the city’s arterial stormwater drain, which has been encroached upon in the recent years due to urban sprawl, reducing its carrying capacity and compromising the city’s ability to absorb rainfall. Backflow from the drain has been identified as a key cause of waterlogging during monsoons.

The NGT has, in multiple orders over the last two years, stated stormwater drains are of utmost importance and need to be restored. This was most notably spelled out in 2016, when the court ordered that no stormwater drains in the city should be further concretised. Last year, GMDA drew up a plan for refurbishing the nullah, but contradicted NGT’s directions by proposing to concretise it.

Deputy commissioner, Amit Khatri, said, “The meeting was to review progress of the GMDA’s action plan. Their work is ongoing and it was conveyed to the chief secretary. There will be another review meeting soon.”

Another point on the meeting’s agenda was the ongoing boxing-in of the drain — which has been delayed by at least a year — over a 600-metre stretch in Khandsa village by the Haryana Shahri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP). An HSVP official, who did not want to be quoted, said the work would be finished by April 30 — in time for monsoon.

Dhesi also initiated a joint regional committee to take action against activities leading to pollution in the drain. Led by Shakti Singh, regional officer (Gurugram south), HSPSCB and comprising officials of HSPCB, GMDA and MCG, the panel will submit an action-taken report in two weeks. Singh said, “The committee’s duty would be to stop flow of untreated sewage and effluents into the drain. We will take action against violators.”

V Umashankar said the GMDA and the MCG would install 350 sewage treatment plants across the city so that decentralised water recycling can be done, thereby minimising outflow of untreated sewage into the drain.

Vaishali Rana Chandra, a city-based activist who had been fighting a case in NGT for restoration of the drain to its natural state, said, “It is pointless to make such committees when the actions you are implementing are not in accordance with the law. GMDA and HSVP’s plan to concretise the drain will worsen urban floods.”

“It is shocking NGT has not taken cognizance of the fact that officials are ignoring its orders,” said activist Sharmila Kaushik.

Lalit Arora, chief engineer, GMDA said the drain needs to be concretised for safety reasons as it passes through populated localities and can lead to hazards.

First Published: Mar 18, 2019 02:50 IST