NGT refuses to unseal Haj House in Ghaziabad

The National Green Tribunal Wednesday refused to unseal the Haj House in Ghaziabad for failing to setup a sewage treatment plant (STP).

The Haj House in Uttar Pradesh's Arthala village is an under-construction seven-storey building located near the Hindon river and it was sealed last year.

A vacation bench headed by Justice Raghuvendra S Rathore said the plea filed by the Uttar Pradesh State Haj Committee cannot be allowed as a larger bench has already passed orders in the matter.

The green panel had directed the Uttar Pradesh Haj House Committee to ensure that a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) of 136 kilo litre per day is installed there to treat domestic effluent.

Earlier,permission was granted to unseal the facility, but it was for limited period. Moreover, the Haj House is yet to setup a STP, it said.

"In view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances, an order passed by the larger bench of the tribunal on March 12 in the miscellaneous application filed by the present applicant himself, we are of the considered opinion that the prayer made in the present application filed for the second time, no relief can be granted to the applicant by this vacation bench, particularly when the initial order has been passed," the bench said.

The green panel had earlier junked a plea seeking demolition of a building for Haj pilgrims in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, noting that the structure does not fall on the flood plains of the Hindon river.

It had dismissed the petition filed by an NGO and a Ghaziabad resident claiming that the land where the Haj House was being constructed was recorded as 'Hindon River' in the revenue records of Arthala village in Ghaziabad.

According to the plea, the construction of Haj House was in complete violation of the directions of the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh to all authorities, including police, to ensure that no construction of any kind is allowed on the floodplain.

It had also referred to the 2013 NGT order which had taken note of the several illegal construction on the floodplains and passed a restraining order against any illegal construction of temporary or permanent nature on floodplains of Yamuna and Hindon.

Offering a capacity of 2,500 pilgrims at a time like the Lucknow Haj house, the Ghaziabad Haj house will have arrangements for foreign exchange, immigration, medical aid and other amenities for the pilgrims. A separate administrative block is also being constructed.