New Delhi: National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) told National Green Tribunal that it followed all rules while building Urban Extension Road (UER) over a village pond near southwest Delhi’s Goyal Khurd.The reply came after NGT took cognisance of a TOI report from last Sept, which highlighted that a natural pond, listed by Delhi govt for notification and legal protection, was impacted after NHAI constructed a flyover on it.NHAI stated that the land was acquired by Delhi Development Authority and handed over to it, after which all necessary environmental clearances were sought and received from the Union environment ministry. Thus there was no bar on the construction of the bridge under the applicable laws, it submitted.NHAI also clarified that it did not build the UER at grade by filling up the pond, which would have cost Rs 15 crore. Instead NHAI built a 1.2km-long flyover to go over the waterbody, spending around Rs 75 crore, five times more, to keep its environmental sanctity intact, the authority pointed out.“It is a well-established engineering practice that a bridge is proposed over a highway if it passes through any pond or waterbody so that it causes minimal disturbance to the waterbody. A similar practice was adopted in the case of the Goyla pond… Such a construction balances the interests of preserving the environment and the developmental interests of society,” stated the NHAI report, adding that the steps were “proportionate, reasonable and remedial”.“Extensive efforts” were also made to restore the pond as a consequence of the construction, NHAI claimed. No construction was undertaken that had caused permanent damage to the pond, it argued. According to the report, NHAI is also carrying out, through its contractor, routine maintenance and cleaning works of the pond, and any temporary structure built in the pond during the construction was removed.In March, Delhi State Wetland Authority submitted a report to NGT, stating that a pond in southwest Delhi was proposed to be listed, but was destroyed due to the construction of a highway.
