NGT slams Delhi authorities for three-year non-compliance on waterbody restoration in Mundka
NGT orders halt on Hingonia dam, river constructions after massive violations.
CPCB flags waste-to-energy plant inefficiency, mismanagement and environmental risks in Jabalpur.
The request concerning the restoration of five waterbodies in Mundka village, Delhi, has been unresolved for over three years. Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) stated that this is a blatant 'violation of the legislative mandate in Section 18(3) of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, which requires case resolution within six months'. The application was submitted on April 29, 2022.
The court stated that despite previous directives for the authorities to take suitable measures and provide all pertinent information about the actions taken to remove encroachments and restore and rejuvenate water bodies, the authorities have not complied.
On October 30, 2024, the State Wetland Authority issued an order directing the relevant officers and land-owning agencies to take necessary measures to eliminate encroachments and to restore and rejuvenate water bodies, but "no action worth the name has been taken by the authorities and no details regarding such action have been given in the responses filed," said the court.
On September 24, 2025, the NGT ordered the personal attendance of the Member Secretary of the State Wetland Authority, the Vice Chairman of the Delhi Development Authority, the Chief Executive Officer of the Delhi Jal Board, the Managing Director of the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation and the District Magistrate of West Delhi at the next hearing scheduled for November 3, 2025.
The authorities were directed to furnish relevant records regarding action taken for identification and removal of encroachments, if any, on the waterbodies as well as their restoration and rejuvenation during the entire period of inclusion thereof in the list of water bodies.
NGT directed the collector of Jaipur September 23, 2025 to ensure that no construction takes place within the prohibited areas of Hingonia dam and Bandi river. The respondents which included the authorities as well as private builders have been directed to file their reply. The next date of hearing was listed for October 28, 2025.
The central bench of NGT gave the order after going through the joint committee report which revealed that various construction and developments have taken place in violation of the environmental rules.
Grievance of the applicant related to the protection of historical Hingonia and the issue of encroachment and violation of the environmental norms.
The contention of the counsel for the applicant is that the low level and high level Bookni canals have similarly faced encroachments due to which canal banks got damaged, leading to significant environmental degradation.
The stream to the Hingonia Dam catchment area has been obstructed, and the respondent authorities have failed to address these encroachments despite numerous notices issued by them and protests from local villagers of surrounding areas.
The ongoing commercial encroachments, deposition of waste, deforestation are causing halted water supply, with severe ecological and environmental consequences.
A committee comprising officials of department of Water Resource, Urban Department, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board was constituted with direction to submit the factual and action taken report.
Members of the Joint Committee highlighted serious violations. The joint committee visited the sluice gate of the dam and observed that the level of stored water was 5 feet and 8 inches in the dam.
The joint committee noted that Manglam Builders has created a residential colony and built an access road approximately 2 km long from National Highway 48 to the dam located in the dam's submergence area.
Three residential township projects in the name of Panchsheel Park by Panchsheel Colonizers, Virat City and Brijasha Ocean by Brijasha Construction comes in the submergence area of the dam and they are also in the developing stage.
An old service road of around 350 m was also observed just nearby at the bridge of National Highway 48 passing over Bandi river. The service road was constructed during the period of construction of the bridge of the national highway for temporary traffic diversion. It also hinders the natural flow of the Bandi river, which leads to the Hingonia dam.
During the visit the committee also observed that soil filling is also being done in the submerged area (low lying area). Approximately 2 km of National Highway-48 is also passing through the submergence area of the dam.
There are four canals that originated from the Hingonia dam which are going towards the downstream of the dam for irrigation purposes in many villages like Bookni, Hingonia, Kansya, Ratakhera. Ratakhera canal was flowing during the visit. It was observed that a community centre was constructed at the service bank of Ratakhera canal.
Flow of high level and low level Bookani canals is being hindered by the VRB pipeline, which are passing from the land of Mangalam Builder.
A hotel / resort in the name of Grassfield Riveira Resort was also constructed at bank of the Bandi river just near to the anicut/check dam which is approximately 1 km away in the downstream side from the dam. The hotel has neither obtained any CTE / CTO from the RSPCB nor obtained any NOC from the Water Resource Department.
The hotel has also constructed an approach bitumen road (culvert) of 350 meter length and 20m width over the Bandi river without any permission from the WRD. The road is an obstacle to the natural flow of the Bandi river.
A parallel sand wall was also constructed along with the Bandi river bank which is just adjacent to Manglam Builders Township Project. This is also affecting the natural flow of the Bandi river.
The joint committee recommended that all encroachments / obstruction should be removed. During the visit, the Water Resource Department brought to the notice of the committee that all the land conversions in the submergence / flow area / catchment areas are being done by local revenue department or Jaipur Development Authority without any report or no objection certificates obtained from the water resources department.
CPCB filed its report on the shortcomings in the energy and waste disposal plant in Kathonda, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.
A joint committee constituted on the orders of NGT March 14, 2024 comprising Regional Director, CPCB; Regional Officer, MoEFCC (Bhopal) and Senior Officer from Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation of Ministry of Urban Development visited selected towns (Gwalior, Jabalpur, Ratlam, Morena and Rewa) in order to have factual status of solid and liquid waste management. During the visit, the committee also inspected the waste-to-energy plant situated at Kathonda.
The committee report said that the waste-to-energy plant at Kathonda, Jabalpur is based on mass burning technology for processing of 600 TPD municipal waste with power generation capacity of 11.5 MW. The mixed waste is being used in the waste to energy plants for power generation.
Due to use of mixed or unsegregated waste the desired level of calorific value is not achieved in a waste energy boiler, therefore, rice husk is mixed with waste to enhance the calorific value.
As per record provided by the Jabalpur Municipal Corporation, out of total collected waste only 40 per cent is being used in the waste to energy plant for power generation and the rest is being dumped at the backside of the plant as a result huge quantity of waste was accumulated around the plant.
The committee found that in addition to the municipal solid waste, bottom ash and fly wash of the waste to energy plant was also dumped with accumulated municipal solid waste and the sanitary landfill site constructed for the purpose was not being used properly.
Further, the committee reported that the waste to energy plant was declared non-performing asset (NPA) and is currently under the jurisdiction of the National Company Law Tribunal and run by Resolution Officer. Subsequently declared as NPA, the plant was not receiving necessary major maintenance funds from the bank, leading to a significant decline in its operational efficiency.
The CPCB report of September 24, 2024 was uploaded to the NGT site on September 24, 2025.