DDA concealed facts about debris dumped on Yamuna floodplains: NGT panel

The land-owning agency responsible for guarding the floodplains, however, said its reports submitted to the Yamuna Monitoring Committee were about "other debris", which has been removed. It had told the panel that "more than 4,600 cubic metres of construction and demolition waste had been collected and the floodplains were free of such dumped material”.

An NGT-appointed monitoring committee panned the Delhi Development Authority Tuesday for telling it that the Yamuna floodplains were free of dumped waste, saying its claims were “not reliable” and "amounted to concealment of facts". The two-member panel said in a letter to the DDA vice-chairman that there have been many media reports on dumping of debris and protective masks on the floodplains over the last few days. It said the case of debris was particularly shocking as the DDA had assured it in May and June that there was complete CCTV surveillance to check dumping.

It asked the DDA vice-chairman to institute a system that is "efficient and reliable enough" to actively prevent ingress on the floodplains. When it is being reported so frequently on social media with graphic details the DDA must respond promptly, it said. The land-owning agency responsible for guarding the floodplains, however, said its reports submitted to the Yamuna Monitoring Committee were about "other debris", which has been removed.

It had told the panel that "more than 4,600 cubic metres of construction and demolition waste had been collected and the floodplains were free of such dumped material”. The committee, comprising retired NGT expert-member B S Sajawan and former Delhi Chief Secretary Shailaja Chandra, had asked the DDA to deploy 100 security guards in addition to the existing 100 to protect the floodplains against dumping of waste, but the agency told it “40 additional security guards were sufficient”, the panel said in the letter.

“From the reports which were flashed across several newspapers, shared on WhatsApp and repeated with damaging Twitter videos giving all location, all details, it was evident that the reports given to the YMC were not reliable. The claims had clearly been made without checking the ground situation and amounted to concealment of facts,” it said. A senior DDA official said the agency has conducted an inspection on Friday along with the NGO which raised the issue of dumping before the NGT panel.

"They are talking of dumping of concrete during the construction of the Delhi Metro, Signature Bridge and flyovers over the last so many years. DDA gave the report of other debris lying on the floodplain which has been removed," the official said. 

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