by THO
At least six housing societies in Gautam Budh Nagar have been asked to fix their dysfunctional rainwater harvesting system following an inspection, officials said on Saturday, adding that two others, who didn’t even have the water harvesting system in place, have been issued notices.
The development came as the district ground water department is carrying out inspections to check illegal extraction of groundwater by various establishments across the district in the light of Gautam Budh Nagar administration’s directions given earlier this week for the same.
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Officials said that a total of 37 establishments were inspected in the last three days. And six units were found to be flouting the guidelines, with their rainwater harvesting mechanism lying non-functional.
“On the directions of district magistrate Manish Kumar Verma, inspections were carried out across the district to identify establishments not adhering to the guidelines and illegally extracting groundwater without having a mechanism for groundwater recharge in place,” said Ankita Rai, a hydrologist at Gautam Budh Nagar’s ground water department.
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“As many as 37 establishments including commercial and residential units were inspected. Six of them were found to be not abiding by the rules,” the officer said.
“The rainwater harvesting system was found to be defunct in six establishments, and it was found that no efforts had been taken to fix them. Three-month time has been granted to the erring units to get the system fixed and functional, and ensure all guidelines are followed,” the hydrologist added.
Officials at the district groundwater department said that meanwhile notices were issued to the establishments where the rainwater harvesting mechanism was found missing.
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“Two housing societies in Greater Noida did not have groundwater recharge mechanism installed and groundwater was being extracted illegally. A notice has been served to them,” the officials further said.
According to the groundwater department, applications for approval for acquiring no-objection certificate (NOC) on the department’s portal for groundwater extraction are being received from various sectors including commercial, and industrial.
The officials have been instructed to strictly check on the violations as people seek permission, obtain NOCs and thereafter flout the guidelines, the groundwater department officials said.
“Till Saturday, 60 applications seeking NOC were received. These will only be approved once all the authorities, including Noida and the Greater Noida, conduct an on-ground verification to ensure they meet the criteria,” said Rai, the hydrologist.
There are around 600-650 establishments across Gautam Budh Nagar, including industrial, commercial, residential, government buildings, among others, that have acquired NOCs for groundwater extraction, as of February 2024.
The department levies a penalty ranging from ₹2 to 5 lakh on erring establishments on the first offence, on all types of buildings. The fine is doubled in case of repetition of offence, according to officials.
In November 2023, a fine of ₹23 lakh was imposed on various entities including housing societies for illegally extracting groundwater while a case was also registered against one of the housing societies in Greater Noida (West).
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