The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on October 15, 2024 directed Uttarakhand government to submit information regarding the feedback it had received from various stakeholders and the general public on the Uttarakhand Floodplain Zoning Act, 2012. Additionally, it was asked to provide a timeline for resolving the identified issues.
Despite a prior order on August 8, 2024, the demarcation and identification of the floodplain zone of the Sonali river — a tributary of the Ganga — remains incomplete. Only an interim notification under Section 8 of the Uttarakhand Floodplain Zoning Act, 2012, was issued on October 4, 2024.
The counsel representing Uttarakhand stated that, as per the statute, 60 days must be given to affected parties and the general public to submit any objections. After addressing these objections, a final notification will be issued.
Regarding the area of the Sonali river in Uttar Pradesh, the court was informed that a survey of the river in Saharanpur district would be completed by November 15, 2024 and in Muzaffarnagar district by December 15, 2024. The progress report is to be submitted at least two days before the next hearing, scheduled for December 23, 2024.
The application was registered based on a letter petition submitted by VK Tyagi, a resident of Roorkee in Haridwar district, Uttarakhand, who raised concerns about the Sonali river suffering from large-scale encroachments and sewage discharge, leading to pollution.
The NGT on October 16, 2024 prohibited mining activities at Triveni ghat and nearby areas by Akash Jain.
The application before the court alleged that Jain had been contracted to remove muck and silt deposited at the Triveni ghat platform due to flooding. However, under the guise of muck and silt removal, the contractor engaged in illegal mining, excavating sand and gravel from the riverbed of the Ganga at Triveni ghat, Naav ghat, Duttatray ghat, Surya ghat and Mayakund in Rishikesh, Dehradun district.
The mining activities, carried out using heavy machinery like JCBs, were said to be severely damaging the river’s ecology, causing widespread environmental harm.
In its reply dated October 14, 2024, the district magistrate of Dehradun attached a copy of a joint committee report. The report revealed that the joint committee constituted by the tribunal had been altered by the district magistrate without authority — replacing the district magistrate with the deputy collector of Dehradun to visit the site and submit a report.
The court deemed this action illegal, unauthorised and beyond the district magistrate’s authority.
The report further stated that Jain had been permitted to remove sand near the Triveni ghat area of the Ganga in Rishikesh, but no environmental clearance or consent had been obtained for the mining activities. The counsel representing Uttarakhand conceded that only permission for transportation had been granted but could not refute that sand removal, transportation and disposal had been allowed for Jain.
Meerut Development Authority (MDA) was directed by the NGT on October 16, 2024 to appear in person before the court on the next date of hearing on November 6, 2024 to explain how external sewage treatment plant (STP) services had been made available to the project proponent without the proponent first complying with the internal services development, in violation of environmental clearance (EC) conditions.
The court noted that both the proponent and MDA should be considered violators and environmental compensation should be imposed, along with criminal prosecution and other actions under environmental laws.
Following a court order dated September 27, 2024, the MDA filed its response on October 10, 2024. The MDA acknowledged that the proponent was responsible for internal development, while external services were to be provided by the Authority. The construction of the STP was classified as an internal development, meaning it should have been managed by the proponent.
The tribunal observed that the external STP services should not have been provided to a proponent who failed to comply with the EC conditions.
The application was filed by a resident of Sushant City, complaining about improper waste storage and disposal in the residential area of Sector 7A, Ansal Sushant City, Vedvyas Puri, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, in violation of environmental norms, causing damage to the environment and posing serious health risks to local residents.