Depute expert to ascertain if Najafgarh Lake is water body: NGT to Gurgaon Dy Commissioner

The National Green Tribunal has asked the Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner to appoint an expert to ascertain whether Najafgarh Lake is a water body or not.

A bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said in the report filed by Haryana and Delhi governments, there is doubt that it is a private land and not a wetland/lake.

"This assertion is based on the revenue record of the year 2005. As against the said revenue record, there is a 1983 gazette notification showing the area to be a lake," the bench said.

"To reconcile the situation, it will be appropriate that the earlier revenue records particularly before the settlement are checked. Let the deputy commissioner, Gurgaon, depute an expert of the department to look into the revenue record. Further, an action-taken report be filed before the next date," it said.

The order came after NGO Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) claimed even though two years have passed since the Haryana government assured the tribunal that it will declare the lake a water body, steps have not been taken to check encroachment and construction.

The NGO sought direction to Delhi and Haryana governments to declare Najafgarh Lake, which is partly in Delhi and partly in Haryana's Gurgaon, a water body/wetland.

According to the applicant, there is a serious threat to the water body on account of continuous encroachment and construction in the submergence zone.

After claiming there was no natural lake in Najafgarh, the Haryana government had taken a U-turn by telling the NGT it had been accepted as a water body.

INTACH had alleged that large-scale construction done in the floodplain of the Najafgarh nallah and the lake had drained the area.

It claimed that sectors 106, 107 and 108 of Gurgaon were being constructed in the "high flood level" area of the lake, while construction was also on in areas falling in Delhi.