Gurgaon: National Green Tribunal (NGT)slammed Haryana govt for not acting against rampant illegal extraction of groundwater in the city and ordered an inspection of const-ruction sites, farmhouses, Industrial units, educational institutions and pharma units to check if they are illegally drawing groundwa-ter. The data by National Compilation on Dy-namic Groundwater Resources shows the ci ty extracted groundwater over twice its per missible limit in 2023 and 2024 NGT also said all colonies and institutions must maintain functional rainwater harves ting systems, illegal borewells must be sealed and legal users must be monitored through piezometers. It gave the state govt six months to complete the entire process.
The tribunal took suo motu cognisance of aTOI report Gurgaon a Groundwater Dark Zone, But Extraction Over 2 Times the Limit published on Aug 5, 2025. NGT’s principal bench observed that official replies filed by multiple departments were heavy on plans and claims, but light on enforcement.The tribunal has given govt authorities a slew of instructions, including inspection drives, supplying water treated by sewage treatment plants (STP), carrying out sealing drives and imposing environmental compen sation, to tackle the problem at the earliest The tribunal stated in its Feb 10 order, “No-ne of the above replies reflects the effective ac-tion by authorities at the ground level to check the unauthorised withdrawal of groundwater by different entities and project proponents”.
Satinder Duggal
