New Delhi: National Green Tribunal has directed Delhi Development Authority to provide details about the current status of Satpula Lake near Saket Court in south Delhi.
The tribunal questioned how DDA managed to clean the entire lake in a single day in Sept, as an attempt was made by the land-owning agency to demonstrate the lake’s cleanliness by submitting just three photographs. NGT asked Delhi Pollution Control Committee, which earlier found high ammoniacal nitrogen and low dissolved oxygen in the water, to analyse fresh samples from the lake to ascertain its condition following DDA’s cleanup drive.
NGT took suo motu cognisance of a TOI report, ‘On revamp priority list Satpula Lake being filled up with raw sewage from drain’, on April 6, which highlighted that the waterbody, listed in 2021 as one of the 1,040 wetlands to be rejuvenated by Wetland Authority of Delhi, was being filled with raw sewage from a drain.
“DDA has filed a report dated Sept 28 disclosing that the work of revival of Satpula Lake was handed over to Rotary International, District 3011, and Rotary Club initiated the action and cleaned the lake on Aug 18. Nothing is disclosed as to how in one day, the lake was cleaned,” said the bench headed by Justice Prakash Shrivastava in an order on Dec 16.
The bench noted that the report further stated that at the time of inspection done by DDA on Sept 2, duckweed and algae were found on the lake’s surface. “The report states that DDA took steps to clean the lake on the next day of the inspection itself. Merely referring to three photographs, an attempt has been made to demonstrate that the lake is now clean without any further reliable material,” said the bench.
In a report dated Dec 13, DPCC informed the tribunal that it collected samples from the outlet of a sewage treatment plant and the lake on Nov 28, and the analysis of the lake water showed that ammoniacal nitrogen was beyond the permissible limit and dissolved oxygen was nil. It further stated that samples were again collected after meeting DDA officials on Dec 11, and the analysis report was awaited.
NGT has granted four weeks’ time to DPCC to provide the analysis report. It has also asked DDA to place on record relevant material showing the current status of the lake. The matter will now be heard on April 15, 2025.
TOI earlier reported that the lake, covering 3.06 acres in official records, is getting filled with murky and stinking water being sent to it through frothy streams that originated from a tank linked to the large drain.
