NGO accuses civic body of violating Tribunal directives

The Public Action Committee, a Ludhiana-based civic association, has accused the Municipal Corporation of violating clear directives of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) by initiating concrete lining along the Buddha Dariya near Shivpuri Bridge.

It has shot a letter addressed to the District Magistrate, Regional Office of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Chandigarh, Punjab Pollution Control Board, and Department of Water Resources, the association alleged that the ongoing construction amounts to contempt of court orders and poses serious ecological and civic risks.

The association reminded the authorities that in the case of the Public Action Committee and others vs Punjab and others, the NGT had directed the formation of a joint committee comprising officials from MoEF&CC, Water Resources Department, Punjab Pollution Control Board and the District Magistrate, who was designated as the nodal agency. The Tribunal had explicitly ordered that no illegal construction should take place in the Buddha Dariya till the committee’s report was submitted.

“Despite these directions, the Municipal Commissioner allegedly began concretisation of the natural water body’s sides, which the association claims violates not only the NGT orders but also the Supreme Court guidelines against altering natural water bodies,” said Kapil Arora and Jaskirat Singh from the PAC.

Photographs dated November 8, with GPS location, were attached with the complaint as evidence. The members of the association said they had alerted the District Magistrate via WhatsApp on November 5 and 8 but the construction continued, added members of the PAC, Dr Amandeep Singh and Bains Kuldeep Singh Khaira.

The PAC members said the narrowing of the Buddha Dariya had already led to overflow into hundreds of homes, particularly in Chander Nagar, causing severe hardships to residents. The association had argued that concretisation would further disrupt the natural flow and ecology of the water body, worsening flood risks.

The committee has urged the authorities to halt the construction along the Buddha Dariya and initiate legal action against violators for contempt of the NGT orders.

Despite repeated calls and messages seeking his version, Municipal Commissioner Aaditya Dachalwal remained unreachable.