The Tribunal had also said that the action plan should refer to the recommendations of an expert committee it had appointed to assess the damage at the Yamuna floodplains.
There was no evidence of compaction of soil neither were any wetlands seen prior to and after the Art of Living Foundation's event in March 2016 on the Yamuna floodplains, a Delhi Development Authority (DDA)-led three-member panel submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday. Last week, the NGT's principal bench had directed the DDA to form a three-member committee and submit an action plan to restore the Yamuna floodplains. The Tribunal had also said that the action plan should refer to the recommendations of an expert committee it had appointed to assess the damage at the Yamuna floodplains.
The three-member panel's observations though, were directly in contradiction to the observations of the expert committee. "The land where the function of AoL was held is fully covered with grass along with some saplings and seedlings of various tree species here and there. This kind of grass and natural regeneration of seedlings is not possible on compacted soil. No significant size of wetland or water body was noticed by the committee in the area used by AoL," the panel report said. It added that from Google Earth images, it was evident that no wetland or water body was seen prior to the event.
The report of the three-member panel was prepared by Principal Commissioner, Horticulture, DDA, Chief Engineer, Irrigation Department, Delhi government, and Chief Engineer, Yamuna Irrigation Department, Uttar Pradesh.
The NGT-appointed expert committee, though, had said in its report that wetlands were filled up during preparations for the event. "About 75 hectares were impacted due to levelling and consolidation and compacting...wetlands have to be de-silted and the compacted area has to be de-compacted," the expert committee had said in April. They had said that Rs 42 crore was required for physical and biological rehabilitation of the floodplains.
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