
National Green Tribunal at New Delhi. Image used for representation. (File Photo | EPS)
New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the commissioner of the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation to look into the complaint of illegal construction, concretization and encroachment in parks, green belts, playgrounds, open fields and forests in Ghaziabad. is given
The Tribunal, headed by Chairperson Prakash Shrivastava and Expert Member A. Senthalval, urged the Commissioner to consider the complaint and find out the correct position and take appropriate remedial action as per law at the earliest.
Akash Vashishtha, appearing for petitioners Rajendra Tyagi and Himanshu Mittal, submitted that the four parks which were concreted by the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) exceeded the permissible limit of 5% of the total area. The petitioner also complained about cementing the surface of the parks in the name of establishing open gyms.
Citing the state government's order, the petition pointed out that permanent concrete construction (including pavement) should not be done in more than 5% of the total area of the park, to ensure recharge of ground water.
The lawyer said that an application was already made to the commissioner on July 1 last year but no action was taken.
Ghaziabad is one of the 131 non-attainment cities identified under the National Clean Air Program (NCAP) which has the highest AQI in the country as well as in the world.
Green cover recommended in the master plan of Ghaziabad is decreasing day by day due to inactivity of GDA. The complaint alleged that most of the green belts under the GDA Master Plan 2021 are under encroachment, illegal constructions are spread in such green belts and solid and other wastes are dumped on them.