Noida: Illegal construction has continued unchecked in the city despite repeated affidavits and rejoinders filed by former municipal corporator Rajendra Tyagi before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) as Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA), which is responsible for curbing such activity, has failed to respond to repeated NGT orders and has once again been granted four weeks.The UP pollution control board has said that a report from GNIDA is needed to confirm whether the flagged constructions exceed the 5,000 sqm area limit that requires consent to establish. Last July, the Authority’s counsel promised a detailed affidavit within three weeks. Nine months and three hearings later, GNIDA’s counsel keeps stalling—still refusing to disclose which constructions exceed 5,000 sq m and lack consent to operate or establish.The tribunal, comprising its chairperson justice Prakash Srivastava and expert member Dr A Senthil Vel, on April 8 once again allowed four weeks to GNIDA and listed the matter for next hearing on July 23.NGT clarified that the tribunal is only examining the illegal construction that has come up in violation of environmental norms, specially the EIA Notification, 2006, and without CTE (consent to establish) and CTO (consent to operate) from the UP pollution control board.On Jan 5, UPPCB’s counsel told the tribunal that, following an NGT direction, the applicant had submitted a list of 24 constructions allegedly undertaken without necessary CTO or CTE.“Out of the list of 24 sites, 16 had the geo-coordinates, which have been examined, and it was found that none of these 16 constructions are tentatively found to be beyond 5000 sq m. Hence, no CTE and CTO was required by them,” the counsel said.However, he added that to get the authentic information regarding built-up area they have requested GNIDA to provide the built-up area of these plots.Counsel for the applicant, Akash Vashishtha, said that though it was the duty of the authorities to identify illegal constructions and take action, it was on the direction of the NGT that they furnished an exhaustive list of the illegal residential and commercial sites to UPPCB via an email dated Nov 27, 2025.“Despite the email, the illegal and unauthorised constructions at the sites mentioned therein as well as those referred to by Tyagi in the application, additional affidavits dated Sept 24, 2024, March 25, 2025, and July 25, 2025, constructions are continuing in full swing,” he said.Vashishtha further pointed out that the criteria of 5000 sq mt is illogical as buildings that are lesser in carpet area are also extracting groundwater and generating waste and sewage, so unless there is proper approval they are going to put undue pressure on the natural resources.
