NGT against covering storm drains

The Times of India , Monday, March 31, 2014
Correspondent : TNN
New Delhi: It’s a mammoth task for corporations and the public works department to undo the damage done over the decades to storm water drains. National Green Tribunal last week asked them not just to clean up all storm water drains in the city in three weeks’ time but also ensure no sewage or solid waste ever enters them again. No storm water drain should be covered, it has also told authorities.

In a first, the court has directed an inter-departmental committee to deliberate on a ‘polluter pays’ clause that imposes monetary penalty on anyone who dumps waste into open drains. TOI has accessed the report submitted by the Delhi environment department on the complete overhaul of storm water drains.

Covering of drains will result in increased toxicity and health hazards owing to trapped gases, the report says. Some residents in Defence Colony told the committee there was severe flooding last year owing to the covers and air pollution from exhaust chimneys installed underneath. Most storm water drains in Delhi carry sewage that emanates noxious gases and can cause severe groundwater pollution if trapped.

The report has concluded that existing drain covering projects like the ones on Kushak Nala and the Shahdara link drain “have the potential to cause environmental damage by changing the local biodiversity and hampering with their environmental functions”. It recommends “greening of the sides” instead.

But government agencies are not bothered by the NGT directive. A senior official from South Delhi Municipal Corporation said the corporation is already cleaning the storm water drains and that 80% of the work has been completed. “It’s an annual routine. Even without the court’s directive, we do desilting work before monsoons. The work will completed by June.”

A senior PWD engineer said the department, too, was on the job.

“We have an action plan ready that we will submit to the court. Some storm water drains are cleaned by us everyday. To ensure that sewage does not enter these drains, fresh lines needs to be laid. It cannot happen overnight. But Delhi Jal Board is preparing a plan for areas that don’t have sewage lines,” he said.

NGT’s order is likely to halt progress of existing drain covering projects at Kushak Nala and the Shahdara link drain and will also set a precedent for urban planners in the capital.

 
SOURCE : http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=CAP/2014/03/25&PageLabel=6&EntityId=Ar00601&ViewMode=HTML
 


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