Following a plea seeking remedial action against illegal bore wells operating in the city, the National Green Tribunal has directed the Delhi Pollution Control Committee to ensure action against violators along with other authorities concerned.
A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said, “The DPCC can either directly take action or coordinate with the District Magistrates/Sub-Divisional Magistrate on a regular basis and ensure that appropriate legal action is taken against operation of illegal bore wells.”
In a report furnished to the Tribunal, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) informed the Bench that there were over 19,000 illegal bore wells in the Capital out of which around 2,600 were sealed. Further the Jal Board submitted before the Bench that the action for sealing was required to be taken by the respective District Magistrates.
“The report shows that even though 19,154 illegal bore wells are acknowledged and action is said to have been taken against 2630, status of action against remaining 16,524 illegal bore wells is not known. Only plea is that such action has to be taken by DM s concerned,” the tribunal observed.
While directing the DPCC to submit a further action taken report, the Tribunal also asked the Delhi Chief Secretary to look into the matter.
The directions came when the green panel was hearing a plea moved by petitioner Abdul Farukh who alleged that water is being drawn from government tube wells near the Chattarpur area and being sold to private tanker owners.
