NGT notice to Centre on groundwater extraction in G'bad, Hapur

Heeding to the plea that incessant extraction of groundwater by industries and households in the neighbouring Ghaziabad and Hapur districts has resulted in depletion of water table, the National Green Tribunal today sought response from the Centre and Uttar Pradesh government on the issue.
A bench headed by Justice U D Salvi issued notices to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Central Ground Water Authority Uttar Pradesh government, state pollution control board and others while seeking their reply in two weeks.
The directions came on a plea by Ghaziabad resident Sushil Raghav and NGO Society for Protection Of Environment and Biodiversity(SPEnBIO) seeking closure of all industrial units extracting groundwater illegally in the notified area of Ghaziabad and Hapur.

"The illegal withdrawal of groundwater has resulted in serious depletion of groundwater in Ghaziabad and Hapur, as a result of which numerous hand-pumps, tube-wells have dried up across these districts. The illegal abstraction of groundwater is in violation of the provisions of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 as well as the guidelines issued by the CGWA in 2012 and the latest guidelines as notified in 2015," the plea said.
Advocate Rahul Choudhary, representing petitioners, said that indiscriminate withdrawal of ground water is done through borewells which are dug illegally by individual households in almost all residential colonies falling under Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation area.

"It is submitted that almost none of housing societies, schools, hotels and industrial establishments falling in the municipal corporation area, Bhojpur, Loni and Rajapur, Muradnagar blocks of Ghaziabad have installed rain-water harvesting systems till date...
"Direct closure of all water-intensive industries using ground water as raw material in Over-Exploited Areas of Ghaziabad (Bhojpur, Loni, Muradnagar and Razapur blocks) and Hapur (Garh, Hapur and Simbhaoli blocks)," the plea further said.