'How can you clean a lake in just a day?': NGT slams DDA's claims

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has criticised the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) over its claim of cleaning the Satpula Lake in south Delhi within a single day.

- Jasjeev Gandhiok

The green tribunal rebuked the land-owning agency for submitting just three photographs in an attempt to show that the lake was cleaned.

A bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava noted that the DDA report lacked details on how the lake's clean-up was achieved in such a short span. It directed the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to collect new samples from the water body to assess its quality.

The tribunal's May order to clean the lake followed its suo motu cognisance of reports highlighting untreated sewage from Khirki village being pumped into the lake. In July, DPCC inspected the lake and found it "highly eutrophic," with excessive algal blooms caused by nutrient-rich sewage, depleting oxygen levels and rendering it inhospitable to aquatic life.