NGT asks report on plea alleging illegal groundwater extraction

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has sought a factual report from a panel on alleged illegal extraction of groundwater by Mitsui Kingzoku Components India Private Ltd. in the industrial town of Bawal in Rewari district of Haryana.
The Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) had already designated the area as “over exploited,” according to a petition before the NGT that claimed the project proponent (PP) was in violation of the terms of the ‘No Objection Certificate’ (NOC), which specified the amount of groundwater to be removed.
According to the applicant, NOC was granted to the PP by the ground water authority for groundwater abstraction up to 30m3/day and not exceeding 18,000 m3/year.
According to the petition, the tribunal’s earlier judgement from November 2022 directing the CGWA to take corrective action against non-compliance by the PP, including recovering compensation equal to 0.5 per cent of the project cost, was not followed, a bench of Chairperson Justice A. K. Goel observed.
Also Read HC stays NGT order allowing pruning of trees in south Delhi The applicant has also referred the RTI reply dated October 6, 2020, such that the unit is not complying with the condition on which ground water extraction has been permitted.
The tribunal then directed that the report be submitted within two months.