A defiant Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on Thursday said he would rather go to jail than pay the penalty of Rs 5 crore imposed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) as precondition to hold the three-day World Culture Festival scheduled to kick off on the Yamuna banks in East Delhi on Friday evening.
However, the NGT on Thursday took an stern stand and asked the Art of living to pay Rs 5 crore as environment compensation by 5 pm on Friday or face music. The green Bench, headed by the NGT Chairperson Swatanter Kumar, said that the tribunal will revoke the clearance given for the event unless it pays the penalty to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).
“If there is any breach of any condition, the matter will be taken up as and when required, the law will take its own course,” said the NGT Chairperson.
On the other hand, Art of living said it will challenge the order of the NGT and will not pay any fine under any circumstance. In an interview to a national news channel, Sri Sri said on Thursday, “We have done no wrong… the structure being made for the event is temporary and will be dismantled after the event. We wanted to create awareness about the Yamuna through this event.”
The green panel also directed the Central Pollution Control Board and the Ministry of Environment & Forests to issue adequate directives to the organisers of the event with regard to disposal of municipal solid waste and drinking water.
In another development, the green tribunal also refused to give an urgent hearing on a fresh plea seeking stay on the three-day event. The petition sought to allege that Art of living has not taken permissions from the competent authority as directed by the tribunal.
The Bench said there is no urgency to pass an order. A proper application can be filed in this regard pointing out the deficiencies in compliance with the directions of the tribunal. “We will see if there is any breach or not as per the law,” said the Bench.
The three-day consecutive hearing of NGT is in response to a petition filed by a green activist Anand Arya from Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan. The petitioner accused the Art of living Foundation of destroying the fragile ecosystem on the Yamuna floodplains by felling trees and making concrete construction involving a massive stage on the riverbed.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court refused to entertain a plea seeking its direction to stop the three-day mega event. A Bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur asked the petitioner Bhartiya Kishan Majdoor Samiti to approach the National Green Tribunal (NGT) with its plea as the three-day event is all set to begin on Friday.