RTI: Encroachments shrinking water bodies in Karnal civic body limits

Karnal, March 13

Area of water bodies (ponds) have shrunk in the Karnal Municipal Corporation limits as most of the ponds have been encroached upon by residents. At some places, residents have made houses, roads in the pond area, while at a few places the residents have filled the pond area with garbage and cow dung.

It was revealed in a reply to an RTI query filed by a Karnal-based RTI activist Rajesh Sharma, who sought information on the status of ponds in the city limits. Besides, he also sought the names of encroachers and for how long they had been encroaching upon the pond area. As per the information, people have encroached nearly 2 acres out of around 13 acres of the ponds in rural areas, while 32 acres out of around 34 acres in the urban areas.

In the reply, KMC officials said they did not have the information on the name of encroachers and the duration of their encroachment but said they only the information of the area which had been encroached upon by the residents. As per the information provided by the KMC, there were 23 ponds in the KMC limits, including its rural areas. Of them, the area of most of the ponds had been reduced due to encroachment. As many as eight ponds had been encroached upon to a large extent and they were almost non-existent, said the reply.

The ponds in Saidpura, Mangalpur, Dhobighat, Sector 16, Budakhera and other parts of the city have been encroached upon to a great extent due to which these ponds are almost non-existent, while the area of ponds in Jhanjhari, Uchana, Daha, Baldi, and a couple of in the city limits have been reduced due to encroachment, the reply stated.

Sharma demanded that the government get the area of these water bodies vacated and restore these in their natural form. Gagandeep Singh, Joint Commissioner, KMC, said the KMC conducted anti-encroachment drive on a regular basis. Notices are also issued if any complaints come.