NGT gives Haryana Govt 6 months to tackle water issues
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Haryana Government to address the State’s “twin environmental crisis” of large-scale waterlogging and severe groundwater depletion within six months.
Disposing of an application filed by Jai Singh, the Principal Bench of the NGT — comprising Judicial Member Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and Expert Members Dr A Senthil Vel and Dr Afroz Ahmad — instructed the Haryana Chief Secretary to treat the petition as a formal representation. The tribunal ordered the Government to consult all stakeholders, hold hearings, and initiate appropriate remedial action.
The application highlighted how decades of unscientific and ecologically unsustainable water management, rooted in the water-intensive Green Revolution model of paddy and wheat cultivation, have severely disrupted the State’s hydrological balance.
According to official data submitted to the tribunal, nearly 9.82 lakh acres of land in Haryana are ravaged by waterlogging and soil salinity. Of this, 1.74 lakh acres are severely affected, particularly impacting districts like Rohtak, Jhajjar, Charkhi Dadri, Sonipat, Bhiwani, Hisar, and Fatehabad. Consequently, over 10,266 farmers have already filed crop-loss claims covering 65,235 acres.
Conversely, another part of the State faces acute groundwater over-extraction. Data reveals that 88 out of 143 groundwater assessment units (61.54 per cent) are over-exploited. Haryana’s annual groundwater extraction stands at 12.72 billion cubic metres (bcm) against an extractable limit of just 9.36 bcm, pushing the state-wide extraction rate to an alarming 135.96 per cent.
The petitioner sought a permanent scientific action plan involving drainage correction, strict groundwater regulation, artificial recharge enhancement, crop diversification, and land reclamation.
The NGT granted the applicant liberty to approach the tribunal again through appropriate proceedings if aggrieved by the subsequent actions taken by the Haryana Government.
