Municipal authorities must balance infrastructure development with environmental safety, ensuring public health is not compromised by untreated wastewater issues.

ORDER

1. The grievance of the applicant is non-maintenance of the nallah near Shahid Nagar Metro Station G.T. Road, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad and foul smell is flooding around the area causing nuisance and creating several diseases. It is further submitted that nallah has not been covered and has been kept open.

2. The matter was taken up by this Tribunal on 06.09.2022 and a Committee was constituted with direction to submit a factual ad action taken report.

3. In compliance thereof, report of the Joint Committee has been submitted by Mr. Utsav Sharma, Regional Officer, UPPCB vide email dated 09.12.2022. The relevant part of the report is reproduced as under:-

“STATUS REPORT ON BEHALF OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE OF DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION, MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, GHAZIABAD AND UTTAR PRADESH POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD WITH RESPECT TO ORDER DATED 06.09.2022

x x x x x x

4. That, upon receiving nominations for site inspection from the District Administration and Municipal Corporation, Ghaziabad, the Joint Committee comprising of Shri Bipin Kumar, Additional District Magistrate (City), Ghaziabad, Shri Yogendra Singh, Executive Engineer (Jal), Municipal Corporation, Ghaziabad, Shri Om Prakash, Assistant Engineer (Jal), Municipal Corporation, Ghaziabad and Shri Kishan Singh, Assistant Environmental Engineer, UPPCB, Ghaziabad carried out site inspection of the said area on 24.11.2022.

5. That, representative of Municipal Corporation, Ghaziabad informed the members of the Joint Committee that the said complainant had approached the Corporation and requested that the drain be covered in front of the group housing society M/s Nipun Saffron Valley , G.T. Road, Ghaziabad where he stays, however same could not be done.

6. That, the Joint Committee tried to contact Shri Parmod Kumar Agarwal, the complainant on his mobile (8882927871) but the call went unanswered. Further, the Committee contacted Shri Nawab Singh, Guard Supervisor of M/s Nipun Saffron Valley who informed that Shri Agarwal was not available in the society.

7. That, during site survey, the Committee observed that the drain, marked as Sahibabad Drain -1 in the records of Municipal Corporation passes near the boundary wall of M/s Nipun Saffron Valley on the right side. The said drain is at a distance of around 20 feet from the boundary wall of the society and residential towers are further 30 feet inside the group housing society. Hutments and temporary households were found established in the 20 feet buffer area between the boundary wall and the drain.

8. That, the said drain’s inception is from a point near 80 feet road in Shahid Nagar and it culminates in Vaishali, Ghaziabad, where it is tapped through a sewage treatment plant. The total length of the said drain as per Corporation’s record is 8115 meters, out of which around 7500 meters is in the form of concretized channel.

9. That, before reaching the area in question near M/s Nipun Saffron Valley, mixed effluent from Village Bhopura, Village Pasonda, Village Rajiv Nagar, Shalimar Garden, Ganeshpuri, Janakpuri and Shahid Nagar is received in Sahibabad Drain -1. No authorized or approved industrial area falls in up stream of this point of Sahibabad Drain-1.

10. That, the Sahibabad Drain-1 is in the form of a concrete channel having width of around 30 feet and depth of around 10 feet near the group housing society. Once the drain passes the society it crosses beneath the GT Road. Due to accumulation of municipal waste, stagnancy was observed in the drain at said point which eventually leads to smell in the region.

11. That, the representatives of Municipal