Art Of Living terms NGT panel report ‘unscientific’

Noida, Aug 18 (PTI) Sri Sri Ravishankar’s Art of Livinghas termed as "unscientific and illogical" a National GreenTribunal panel’s report, which held that AOL’s three-day"World Cultural Festival" caused damage to the Yamunariverbed. Demanding a fresh probe by an "unbiased" panel, AOL lawyerKedar Desai and environment expert Prabhakar Rao told a pressconference here that "no damage" was caused to the environmentdue to the event held in March. "The area was not notified as wetlands but as floodplainsonly. In the Delhi Wetland Atlas, there is no mention of anywetland at the site where the event was held," said Rao. "The Committee, in its report, has not quantified thedamage. Earlier, it had estimated the damage at Rs. 120 crore.Now they are saying…they cannot provide a figure," said Rao. "How can a panel go against their own estimate? TheCommittee has submitted two satellite images only. One of theperiod before the event and the other of the period after itwas wrapped up. "We have requested the NGT to set up an unbiasedcommittee. Our application is yet to be taken up by thetribunal," he said. "Multiplicity of data is required to assess the exactsituation. Even the weeds in the river cleared by thegovernment by spending crores of rupees were claimed to bedamaged by the event. We have provided scientific data toprove that no damage was done by the event," Rao said. "We have faith in the judiciary and hope that the NGT willensure justice. We will again submit our objections to thereport to NGT and seek fresh unbiased committee probe," Desaisaid. The tribunal had directed the seven-member expertcommittee headed by Shashi Shekhar, Secretary of Ministry ofWater Resources, and senior scientists and experts fromNational Environmental Engineering Research Institute, IIT,Delhi and other agencies to inspect the site. The committee, in its 47-page report, has observed thatentire floodplain area used for the main event site i.e.between DND flyover and the Barapulla drain (on the right bankof river Yamuna) "has been completely destroyed, not simplydamaged". "The ground is now totally levelled, compacted andhardened and is totally devoid of water bodies or depressionsand almost completely devoid of any vegetation," the expertcommittee had on Tuesday told the tribunal. The panel has said that due to the event, the floodplainhas lost "almost all its natural vegetation" like trees,shrubs, tall grasses, aquatic vegetation including waterhyacinth which provides habitat to large number of animals,insects and mud-dwelling organisms. PTI Corr GVS DVGVS