After NGT Order Encroachments near Surajpur Wetland to be Checked

In a move to curb encroachments near the Surajpur wetland, the forest department has asked the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) to designate an officer to check whether the maps of the adjoining colonies had been approved and how so many of them have mushroomed in the area. The move comes after National Green Tribunal (NGT) constituted a panel for remedial action against illegal encroachments near the Surajpur reserved forest, which the state government is yet to notify as a wetland Conservation and Management Rules, 2017. In an order issued on December 15, 2021, a bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel had constituted a four-member committee led by the Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate (DM) for looking into a complaint about the illegal encroachments. The bench had also sought an action taken report from the committee, and it will take up the matter again on March 9, 2022. The committee, including officials from the state wetland authority and the state pollution control board, the GB Nagar DM and the GB Nagar divisional forest officer (DFO)-the designated nodal agency for “coordination and and compliance"-is now poised to verify the complaint and take remedial measures by the law. The Surajpur area is protected under the India Forest Act,1927. Several environmentalists have raised concerns about “illegal colonies” on plots near the wetland.