ORDER

1. This MA is registered on the basis of the report submitted by Ministry of Jal Shakti (MoJS) in compliance to the order dated 06.10.2023 passed in MA No. 98/2023 in OA No. 198/2023.

2. In OA No. 198/2023, the issue was raised in respect of undue wastage of water during construction of Metro Rail at Delhi, Jaipur and Mumbai against the Government Policies, including the National Water Policy, 2012.

3. The Tribunal in the order dated 06.10.2023 passed in MA No. 98/2023 in OA No. 198/2023 had considered the report filed by the MoJS dated 10.08.2023 disclosing that the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) had issued the SOP to 13 Metro Rail Corporations had directed for fresh report from the Joint Committee to ascertain the status if the SOPs were accepted by the Metro Rail Corporations and they were acting upon the said SOP and also at what stage the NOC is required.

4. In terms of the said direction, present report has been filed disclosing that out of 13 Metro Rail projects, response was received from 7 Metro Rail Corporations and no response was received from 6 metro corporations, namely, Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation, Patna Metro Rail Corporation, Haryana Mass Rapid Transport Corporation, Chennai Metro Rail Ltd., Metro Railway, Kolkata/Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation and MP Metro Rail Corporation. On the other two issues, the stand of MoJS is as under:

“B. ACTION TAKEN

1. xxx...................................xxx......................................xxx (i) During Construction Phase: (a) In case a project intends to utilize groundwater for construction of elevated/ underground sections and/or (b) water table is expected to be encountered during construction of underground section, necessitating dewatering/ pumping out of water.

(ii) During Operational Phase: The Project proposes/ intends to meet operational water requirement, such as water requirement at metro stations for passengers and/or other operational purposes, necessitating construction of borewell/ tubewell.”

5. Hence, we dispose of the MA directing the MoJS to issue reminder to the remaining 6 Metro Rail Corporations and obtain their response in respect of the issue which is already flagged in the earlier order of the Tribunal and file a fresh report before the Registrar General of the Tribunal within a period of three months by e-mail at judicial- ngt@gov.in preferably in the form of searchable PDF/OCR Support PDF and not in the form of Image PDF. If found necessary, the matter will be listed for consideration before the Bench.

6. MA is accordingly disposed of.

Prakash Shrivastava, CP Arun Kumar Tyagi, JM Dr. A. Senthil Vel, EM April 12, 2024 M.A. No.43/2024 In Original Application No. 198/2023 DV