New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday pulled up Centre and Delhi government on a plea seeking cancellation of World Culture Festival, to be organised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living.
The green court has asked Delhi government if it granted permission to build the bridge for the event. Responding to this, the Delhi government it's up to the Union Water Resources Ministry to grant the permission for the same.
Art of Living, the organiser of the event, told the NGT that it was yet to get the permission from police as fire clearance continues to be pending.
Delhi Development Authority (DDA) was also pulled up by the NGT, saying it couldn't wash its hands off the controversy. The DDA, however, claimed that it wasn't aware of any debris and dumping work by organisers of the event.
All official respondents in the case, Central government, Delhi government, DDA, Environment Ministry, Water Resources Ministry and the Uttar Pradesh government, were asked by the court if they had considered the impact of the event on environment, river, biodiversity and the pollution it could generate.
"If somebody has to alter the floodplains, don't you think it requires your clearance?" the NGT asked the Environment Ministry.
The NGT is slated to continue hearing the case on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar denied any disturbance to environment because of the event, saying Art of Living would convert the banks of Yamuna into a bio diversity park. He reiterated that not a single tree was cut for the event.
On March 3, DDA had submitted that it had granted conditional permission for organising the event and had no idea about the magnitude of the programme. The DDA had denied the suggestion that it had provided 3.5 hectare of land for a parking lot on the banks of the river and said it had only provided over 20 hectares for the recreational programme.
The NGT is also hearing a plea against the foundation's plan to release 'enzymes' into 17 drains joining Yamuna for cleaning the river.
Earlier, the green panel had issued notices to the Delhi government, DDA and Art of Living Foundation on another plea seeking stoppage of ongoing construction on the flood plains. It had also constituted an expert committee headed by Water Resources Secretary Shashi Shekhar to inspect the site of the proposed festival.
Meanwhile, the Indian Army, which has built a pontoon bridge on the Yamuna for the festival, is likely to build one more to ease movement of a large number of people expected to attend the controversy-ridden mega event.
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