NGT has directed the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) to submit a detailed report on industries in UP"s Ghaziabad and Hapur districts after a plea alleged that incessant extraction of groundwater has resulted in depletion of the water table.
A National Green Tribunal (NGT) bench headed by Justice Jawad Rahim asked CGWA to file a comprehensive report on total number of industries and borewells in these areas and whether permission has been granted for water extraction or not.
"We direct CGWA to file a detailed statements about the number of industries, the number of borewells each industry has and whether permission has been granted for extraction of water by the industries. If not, what action has been taken till now. This shall be done within two weeks," the bench said while posting the case for hearing to March 8.
The order came after CGWA told the green panel that the areas in question are "over-exploited" and no effective action has been taken in this regard till date.
NGT was hearing a plea by Ghaziabad resident Sushil Raghav and NGO Society for Protection of Environment and Biodiversity seeking closure of all industrial units extracting groundwater illegally in the notified areas 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 extraction of groundwater is in violation of the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 as well as the guidelines issued by CGWA in 2012 and the latest guidelines as notified in 2015," the plea had said.
Advocate Meera Gopal, representing the petitioners, said that indiscriminate extraction 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.
"Almost none of the housing societies, schools, hotels and industrial establishments falling in the municipal corporation area of Bhojpur, Loni and Rajapur, Muradnagar blocks of Ghaziabad have installed rain water harvesting systems till date...," the plea said.
It sought a direction for closure of all water-intensive industries using ground water as raw material in over-exploited areas of Ghaziabad (Bhojpur, Loni, Muradnagar and Rajapur blocks) and Hapur (Garh, Hapur and Simbhaoli blocks).
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