NGT pulls up authorities over illegal dairies on Yamuna floodplains

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has pulled up authorities over the continued operation of illegal dairies on the Yamuna floodplains, directing the MCD and Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to file fresh reports.

The green body was hearing a plea alleging that authorities had failed to implement its April 2024 order directing the removal of illegal dairy farms from the Yamuna floodplain, particularly a major encroachment in Chak Chilla village near Mayur Nature Park.

In an order dated July 15, a bench comprising NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava and expert member Afroz Ahmad said the authorities had failed to ensure full compliance despite clear directions.

The bench examined a status report filed by the DPCC after inspections in the “O-Zone” — a protected area where no construction is allowed — where officials found scattered encroachment shelters (jhuggis), temporary cattle sheds, fodder and heaps of cattle dung.

“Several temporary animal shelters with fodder for feeding cattle are also observed... Heaps of cattle dung were also observed at several dispersed locations,” the bench noted, referring to inspections conducted in areas below the DND Flyover, the Namo Bharat RRTS corridor, and near New Friends Colony.

It said, “The reply of the DPCC reveals that the order of the tribunal has not been complied with. The temporary animal shelters with fodder for feeding cattle were observed in the site inspection by the officers of the DPCC, and in the site inspection, heaps of cattle dung were also found, and 50-60 bovine animals were found grazing in the open grasslands.”

Counsel for the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the primary land-owning agency, told the tribunal that demolition drives had been carried out but were often rendered futile because the encroachers started keeping cattle in the same place or under the flyover.

The counsel said that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Animal Husbandry Department was responsible for impounding the cattle, but no such action had been taken despite the department’s director being informed.

“If the cattle has been kept violating the siting criteria which has been prescribed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in July 2021, then necessary action is required to be taken by the DPCC, which may include imposition of environmental compensation against the violator,” the tribunal said.

“Let the action taken report be filed by the Respondent 4 (MCD) within six weeks. The DPCC will also file a fresh report keeping in view the observations made above,” the bench said, after the MCD’s counsel sought four weeks to look into the issue.

The matter has been listed for further proceedings on September 25.