The Uttar Pradesh government has informed the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that 888 unauthorised colonies spread across six districts discharge approximately 40 million litres of sewage daily into the Hindon river. Additionally, 51 open stormwater drains in the basin carry an estimated 1,067 million litres per day (MLD) of water, sludge, industrial discharge, and sewage into the river and its tributaries.
Affidavit Filed by Chief Secretary
The data was part of an affidavit filed by state chief secretary Shashi Prakash Goyal on April 28, submitted in compliance with an NGT order from December 9 last year. The matter is next listed for hearing on August 17. The NGT principal bench, comprising chairperson justice Prakash Srivastava and expert member Dr A Senthil Vel, had flagged in December that the chief secretary’s earlier affidavit detailed household sewage connections but was silent on the status of unauthorised colonies and untreated sewage discharge from them. The bench had directed the state to disclose the number of natural stormwater drains carrying sewage and trade effluents into the Hindon and its tributaries.
District-Wise Breakdown of Colonies
Following a meeting with department heads on April 22, Goyal filed his reply, placing on record the district-wise breakdown of unauthorised colonies: 258 in Ghaziabad, 362 in Meerut, 180 in Baghpat, 31 in Muzaffarnagar, 51 in Shamli, and six in Saharanpur. These colonies collectively house a population of over 3.8 lakh. Because the settlements are unauthorised, they lack planned drainage infrastructure, and most sewage flows into open or stormwater drains before reaching the river.
Action Plans for Drains
The affidavit noted that of 55 drains assessed in the region, three discharge into the Yamuna and one is classified as a river, leaving 51 for which the state has provided status reports and action plans. Of these 51, nine have been diverted to existing sewage treatment plants (STPs). Ghaziabad proposes to install a 68 MLD STP to intercept and treat discharge from nine of the open drains. Other districts are implementing temporary and in-situ remedial measures through their respective district administrations and municipal corporations.
Background of the Case
The tribunal was hearing an application filed by environmentalist Abhisht Kusum Gupta in 2022, who has sought action against authorities for failing to check sewage and industrial effluent discharge, a failure that, the petitioner argued, rendered the Hindon a dead river.
