The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday directed the Bhopal district collector and the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) to provide clarity on the demarcated area of the Kerwa and Kaliyasot reservoirs and the encroachments in the no-construction zone around these two dams that require removal.
Petitions Seek Removal of Encroachments
The directive came in response to two petitions demanding the removal of encroachments in the green belt where a botanical garden is proposed to be constructed, located on the periphery of the Kaliyasot and Kerwa reservoirs on the outskirts of Bhopal. The NGT bench, comprising Justice Sheo Kumar Singh and expert member Prashant Gargava, instructed the collector and the BMC to file a compliance report within four weeks. The case has been listed for the next hearing on July 29.
ISRO Satellite Imagery Cited
The tribunal also asked the collector and the civic body to clarify their position on the argument presented by Harshwardhan Tiwari, counsel for one of the petitioners. Tiwari contended that images from an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) satellite depict the two reservoirs as part of the Bhopal wetland. He further argued that the buffer or no-construction zone around the Kerwa and Kaliyasot reservoirs should be expanded from 33 metres to 50 metres.
Previous NGT Order Referenced
In pushing for the clearance of encroachments in the green belt, one of the petitioners, environmental activist Subhash C Pandey, cited the NGT's March 17 order. That order stated that without clarity on the demarcation of the no-construction zone around the two reservoirs and the encroachments therein, an affidavit filed by the primary respondents—the Bhopal collector and the BMC—would be considered vague. Representing himself before the NGT bench, Pandey urged the administration to disclose the total submergence area of the two reservoirs in revenue records, the area under encroachment along with the names of violators, the identification and demarcation of the area for the proposed botanical garden on the periphery of the reservoirs, and details of matters pending before the High Court where eviction proceedings have been stayed.
