Times of India: Ghaziabad: Wednesday, December 06, 2017.
More than 10
banquet halls, a petrol pump and several religious sites have come up
illegally, encroaching a 500-metre green belt in Indirapuram's Shakti Khand, an
RTI response has revealed.
In the RTI
reply, the Ghaziabad Development Authority has made it clear that it has not
allotted land to any such commercial entities or religious sites on the green
belt.
Alok Kumar,
president of Federation of Apartment Owners Association, Ghaziabad, who had
filed the RTI query, said the encroachments have come up in the past five
years, causing severe environmental damage to the green belt.
"Many
private firms very cleverly first took responsibility of marinating a portion
of the green belt, but later on started commercial activities. GDA has been a
mute spectator to this unauthorised activity. On the contrary, it has no space
for building any basic amenities like public toilets or library on these
places," he added.
Environmentalists
say these illegal structures are also illegally extracting groundwater for
commercial purposes. As many as three cases have been filed in the National
Green Tribunal for illegal occupation of green belts and groundwater extraction
in Ghaziabad.
In August
this year, the NGT had issued notices to the UP government for failing to take
action against as many as 118 banquet halls and wedding farmhouses operating in
the district without environmental clearances. Following the notice, the GDA sealed
some 34 banquet halls, but not a single one was penalised on this green belt.
City-based
environmentalist Sushil Raghav, who had filed a petition in NGT, said,
"The pollution control board, Central Ground Water Authority and the
district administration are equally responsible for this. They are extracting
huge amount of groundwater and are running diesel gensets, besides causing
noise pollution in the area."
According to
rules, it is mandatory for owners of these halls to obtain consent under Air (Prevention
and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, and Water (Prevention and Control of
pollution) Act, 1974, from the state pollution control board.
Ravindra
Godbole, GDA secretary, said, "The authority has sealed several banquet
halls and will continue to do so. The anti-encroachment drive slowed down due
to civic polls in between. Now it will once again resume."
Explaining
the reason behind slow action against defaulters, Godbole said for sealing
illegal entities, "GDA requires the support of police and district
administration, and sometimes their officials are not available to carry out
joint operations".
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