NGT seeks report on nurseries along Yamuna riverbed

The National Green Tribunal today directed Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to submit complete report on nurseries and other commercial activities going on in the floodplains of river Yamuna here.
"It is brought to the notice of the Tribunal that in the floodplains demarcated by DDA, not only illegal activities are going on but even commercial activities of cement pots and nurseries are unauthorisedly going on without the permission from DDA. These activities are causing pollution as broken pots are being converted into construction and demolition (C&D) debris and deposited on the riverbed itself.
"Further, these nurseries which use plastic for plant saplings dispose them of carelessly and often burn them, which is indicative of serious water and air pollution. It is also contended that there are unauthorised jhuggi clusters which extract ground water without permission from Central ground Water Authority (CGWA). Let complete report be filed and submiitted by DDA," a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said.

The direction came after advocates Rajiv Bansal and Kush Sharma mentioned before the Tribunal that various illegal commercial activities were going on in contravention to the orders of the Tribunal.
DDA told the bench that when a team comprising advocate Kush Sharma and a DMRC official went to check for the construction debris in the vicinity of Yamuna bank metro station, they found commercial activities going on in the jhuggi clusters.
"We were amazed to see that numerous nurseries were running there in complete violation of the orders of the Tribunal. They are illegally carrying out business of pots. There are hutments with polythene bags littered around. They also have borewells for extraction of water," Sharma said.

The Tribunal had earlier announced a fine of Rs 5,000 on individuals throwing waste or religious items in the river.
It had also banned dumping of construction material into the Yamuna while imposing a fine of Rs 50,000 on violators and restrained real estate developers from carrying out any construction work on the floodplains under its "Maily se Nirmal Yamuna Revitalisation Plan 2017".