NGT notice to 5-star hotels over ground water extraction

Three five-star hotels today came under the scanner of National Green Tribunal which issued notices to them on a plea alleging unauthorised extraction of ground water in their premises.
Besides these hotels, a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar also issued notices to Central Ground Water Authority, Delhi Jal Board, New Delhi Municipal Council, Central Pollution Control Board and others while seeking their reply by October 29.
The directions came while hearing a plea filed by Delhi resident Shailesh Singh seeking directions to immediately stop withdrawal of ground water without permission.
Singh has alleged that these five-star hotels were using "several lakh litres" of ground water and the sources of water are not visible in their premises.

The plea alleged that according to Delhi Pollution Control Committee, one of the hotels is extracting 2,22,600 litres of water from supply and is having two bore-wells to extract ground water.
"However, the exact quantity of ground water is not known," it said.
Earlier, the tribunal had imposed a fine of Rs 7.5 lakh on one of the hotels after it found "unsatisfactory" rain water harvesting systems in their premises.