(MOREPIC1) Face2News/Ludhiana/New Delhi
In a petition filed by the Council of Engineers against encroachment over greenbelts by Lodhi Club, Sacred Heart Sr. Secondary School situated at BRS Nagar as well as the MCL itself, the Hon’ble NGT has issued directions of constitution of Joint Committee comprising of Members from MoEF&CC, Deputy Commissioner, Municipal Commissioner as well as PPCB to meet within two weeks, undertake visits to the site, look into the grievances of the applicant, associate the applicant and representative of the concerned project proponent, verify the factual position and submit its report within 15 days to the NGT.
Er. Kapil Arora, President informed that besides encroachment over greenbelts by Lodhi Club as well as the School by opening gate & converting greenbelt for parking of vehicles, the Municipal Corporation Ludhiana, by going against directions of the Supreme Court as well as NGT, has also constructed one library in land belonging to Park/greenbelt near Dholewal Chowk, Ludhiana. Further MCL has allowed parking in greenbelt at Jagraon Bridge to Sherpur Chowk after concretising the base of greenbelts which is also illegal. It is pertinent to mention here that as per Master Plan of Ludhiana, the land belongs to greenbelts.
Er. Mohit Jain informed that after hearing our plea, the Hon’ble NGT in its orders has held that “the Statutory Authorities are bound to take remedial action for prevention, control and abatement of environmental pollution/degradation and for protection and improvement of environment, even without/before filing of any application before and passing of any order by this Tribunal or any other Court and the Statutory Authorities cannot ignore or violate the statutory obligations imposed on them”. However despite sending them notice by the Council of Engineers, the authorities kept silent & allowed illegal parking over greenbelts. Accordingly we move Hon’ble NGT with plea of directions restitution of greenbelts as per statutory provisions. (SUBHEAD)
Er. Kulwant Singh Rai informed that Hon’ble NGT has further directed that if in case the Joint Committee observes any violation of the environmental norms, then it shall forward a copy of its report to the concerned Statutory Authorities including the State PCB and the Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana who shall take appropriate remedial action by giving notice to/hearing the concerned persons and following due process of law and shall submit their action taken reports separately within 15 days from the date of receipt of a copy of the report of the Joint Committee.
Er. Kapil Arora added further that Ludhiana is already facing an issue of increase in Air Pollution and the green areas have already been reduced by construction of infrastructure projects like RUB, buildings for static compactors, Suvidha Kendras, etc. Further, MCL is going to construct around 35 new Overhead Water tanks in parks in Ludhiana. The conversion of greenbelts into parking space is illegal and against Environment Norms & Article 21 of Constitution of India. With the directions of Hon’ble NGT for the constitution of the Joint Committee, we are sure that the statutory authorities will concentrate on removing encroachments from Greenbelts and Parks and take appropriate action against the violators.
