The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued notices to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) over alleged encroachments on a nearly 13-acre water body in north Delhi’s Sannoth village where a sewage treatment plant (STP) and a garbage collection point have come up recently.NGT was hearing a plea filed by a resident, claiming that the village pond has been encroached upon by the MCD and DJB for carrying out constructions there. (HT archive)NGT was hearing a plea filed by a resident, claiming that the village pond has been encroached upon by the MCD and DJB for carrying out constructions there.In its order dated May 22, the tribunal noted that a joint inspection report filed before it by agencies confirm that the land is recorded as a johad -- a traditional community-owned rainwater storage tank or percolation pond -- in revenue records. The inspection noted that a non-functional decentralised sewage treatment plant (DSTP) exists at the southern corner of the pond and a garbage collection point at the eastern corner.“The reply supports the allegation of the applicant that Khasra number 99....is a johad and a STP has been constructed in the said land and there is also a garbage collection point existing on the eastern corner thereof,” observed the bench headed by NGT chairperson justice Prakash Shrivastava and expert member Afroz Ahmad.The DJB, in its reply, told the tribunal it constructed the DSTP in December 2022 to increase groundwater recharge through the use of treated effluent and prevent discharge of untreated sewage. It further stated that the DSTP has been handed over to the DDA now.“In such a situation the respondent authorities are directed to clarify as to how they have encroached upon a water body and raised a construction therein and in this process have they not violated the law,” said the bench, giving a time of four weeks to agencies, including the DDA, to respond. The matter will be heard next on August 14.