Submit plan to clear illegal colonies in Noida along Hindon banks, agencies told

NOIDA: The Ganga committee has asked the Noida and Greater Noida authorities, the UP
Pollution Control Board (UPPCB), and the irrigation department to furnish their action plans to
remove encroachments from the Hindon banks to curb river pollution.
The four agencies will also have to make plans to increase the green cover in the Hindon
floodplains under the provisions of the Noida and Greater Noida master plans.
Besides, the committee has directed all sub-divisional magistrates and authorities to furnish
details of vacant or open land along the Hindon River and facilitate plantations there for the
remediation of the river water. It will also set up the Urban Ganga Samiti on the lines of the
Gram Ganga Samiti and engage locals to make the floodplains green.
The Ganga committee made the final call on these directions in a December 9 meeting, the
minutes of which it recently released.
According to the committee members, several unauthorised colonies have sprouted up on the
Hindon banks and keep releasing untreated sewage into the river till all efforts to clean it go to
waste. “Firstly, the committee has sought the action plans to remove, resettle or rehabilitate the
illegal and unauthorised colonies situated on the banks of the Hindon River,” said member
Akash Vashishtha, adding that such settlements are perpetually discharging untreated sewage
directly into the river.
He highlighted that the four agencies have repeatedly failed to present their action plans to
clean the river despite the Ganga committee asking for the same again and again. “Meanwhile,
the unauthorised colonies are undoing the efforts of this committee and other bodies concerned
with reviving and rejuvenating the Hindon River. Allowing such settlements to exist, develop and
discharge waste is counterproductive to any attempts made by the Ganga committee,” he said.
The directions are significant, considering that on November 25, 2022, the National Green
Tribunal (NGT) sought a factual report from a joint committee within two months on all aspects
of rejuvenating the Hindon river and its tributaries before it meets the Yamuna after a petition by
a Noida resident.
In the petition, Noida resident Abhisht Kusum Gupta said, “The Hindon river is a completely rainfed river, supported by the network of marshes and wetlands across its length during non-rainy
seasons. The river provides water support to the rural population across six districts, and it is
also a primary source of water for residential, agricultural and industrial purposes in these
districts. However, currently, Hindon river is heavily polluted due to unimpeded dumping of
waste into the river and a failure of the state mechanism.”
Based on this, the NGT issued an order on September 20, 2020, directing all states and Union
Territories to prepare action plans within two months to make the polluted river stretches fit for at
least bathing within six months. The NGT order said, “It appears that the state PCB prepared an
action plan, titled ‘Action plan for restoration of polluted stretch of river Hindon from district
Saharanpur to district Ghaziabad’. However, the entire action plan is only on paper, and nothing
substantial has happened on the ground. The result is that the Hindon river is highly polluted
along the entire length, particularly in districts Ghaziabad and Gautam Budh Nagar.”
in the Momnathal village in Noida, Sector 150.