Green activists will move court to stop concreting of drains in Gurgaon

Environmentalists are planning to go to court to stop the destruction of natural drains and water channels in the city. They have also written to civic authorities on Tuesday asking them to stop concreting natural drains.

The activists have blamed the Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) and the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) for concreting natural drains. Environmentalists say the process is ecologically disastrous.

The letter was sent to the Huda, MCG, forest department and the deputy commissioner’s office. A copy of the letter was also forwarded to the chief minister’s office.

“It destroys groundwater recharge, constricts the natural quantum and flow of water, kills several life forms that thrive in these natural water channels and irreversibly alters the pristine natural landscape, reducing it to a sub-optimal level,” Amit Chaudhery, a naturalist said.

As the civic bodies are busy concreting natural drains in DLF and Dhankot village areas, environmentalists and citizen groups have stated in the letter that almost all natural water channels have been destroyed by the builder-administration nexus through encroachments, construction, and waste dumping.

They pointed out that no environment impact study was conducted before concreting the drains.

Concreting drains is also a violation of NGT directives, which state that natural drains should not be covered, as covering of such drains would add to natural calamity, increase pollution and diseases.

“It is clear that concreting the diverse natural drains is flawed, steeped in multiple violations, and in direct opposition to directives of the NGT. Instead of deploying time, effort and resources towards replenishing and rejuvenating natural water channels, promoting rainwater harvesting, and reviving the few surviving natural water bodies, the local administration has adopted the negative exercise of concreting. We will go to court against this move,” Vivek Kamboj, an environmentalist said.

Meanwhile, Huda administrator Hardeep Singh said the authority will examine the allegations. “We will look into the problem and see what we can do about it,” Singh said.