E-Paper
NGT allows time to environment ministry to submit final report on Najafgarh Jheel
NGT has been hearing the plea filed by The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) since 2018, which sought the declaration of the lake as a notified wetland. The petition also sought other measures for the lake’s protection, citing it was gradually getting polluted over time.
New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday noted a submission by the Union environment ministry (MoEFCC) that an interim report on Najafgarh Jheel has been prepared by the Wetlands International South Asia (WISA) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) India for the lake’s demarcation and its notification as a wetland.
The report, MoEFCC stated, comes after a detailed field survey conducted in August, and needs to be revalidated by the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM). The final report will then be submitted only by February or March 2026.
“MoEFCC has filed the affidavit dated September 2, stating that the exercise has been undertaken in compliance of the order dated May 1 and the interim report submitted by WISA and WFF India in relation to the Najafgarh Jheel is required to be revalidated by NCSCM,” said the bench in its order dated November 26.
While the interim report needs to be submitted to the tribunal by November 29, a bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava allowed the ministry additional time to submit the final report, which is likely to pave the way for the notification of the lake — which falls in both Delhi and Haryana, thus requiring the two states to jointly notify it as wetland.
In its submission, the ministry also clarified that a meeting was convened on May 15 by the wetlands division of the MoEFCC, with representatives of both Delhi and Haryana State Wetland Authorities deliberating on issues of the notification of the Najafgarh Jheel.
The 2022 Integrated Environmental Management Plan (EMP) — submitted jointly by the two states to MoEFCC — was also discussed, which had delineated a total wetland area of 2,530 hectare, out of which 1,400 hectares falls within Delhi and remaining 1,130 hectares within Haryana.
“The Delhi government reiterated its position that the Najafgarh Jheel is to be notified as a wetland, based on the brief document and framework of the EMP that have been submitted. The representative from the government of Haryana indicated that out of the 1,130 hectares situated in Haryana, the state government supports notification of only 30 hectares..” the MoeFCC’s submission added.
The development comes after an affidavit submitted by the Haryana State Wetland Authority earlier this year stated that it had identified 75 acres (30 hectares) of the lake area to be notified as a wetland.
Subsequently, NGT in its May 1 order asked for an independent, third-party audit to be conducted by the National Wetland Authority (NWA) of India to determine the actual size of the lake on Haryana’s side of the border for final notification.
NGT has been hearing the plea filed by The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) since 2018, which sought the declaration of the lake as a notified wetland. The petition also sought other measures for the lake’s protection, citing it was gradually getting polluted over time.
Najafgarh Jheel is a large water body in southwest Delhi which was earlier fed by the Sahibi river. The water body is in the present day mainly fed by drains carrying effluents and sewage, with the Najafgarh drain emerging out of it and eventually emptying into the Yamuna.
