Art of Living criticises report submitted to NGT -Governance Now

Art of Living criticises report submitted to NGT

The report has no scientific basis and is clearly biased, said Art of Living

GN Bureau | April 17, 2017

#Yamuna floodplains #National Green Tribunal #NGT #Art of Living #World Cultural Festival

The Art of Living (AOL) has criticised a report submitted to the National Green Tribunal, calling it “completely flawed, unscientific and biased”.

The Art of Living foundation had held its World Culture Festival on the Yamuna floodplain in Delhi in March 2016.

The ecological rehabilitation of the Yamuna floodplain, impacted by Art of Living’s (AOL) three-day cultural event, would cost Rs 42.02 crore, said a seven-member committee in a report submitted to the NGT, reported The Mint

In a statement, AOL said: “We have placed significant material on record before the NGT which clearly shows that the Committee is biased. Our Application in this regard has not yet been heard. We do not trust this Committee. It has disqualified itself by its blatantly biased conduct.”

“From randomly pronouncing damages for Rs 120 crore, they have come down to Rs 13 crore; from permanent damage they are now saying 10 years. From damage to wetlands they are now saying damage to floodplains. Their inconsistencies expose their lies.”

It added that the expert committee chairperson, Shashi Shekhar, who had earlier blown the whistle before the NGT that Rs 120 crore is unscientific, has not signed this report.

“[Professor] Brij Gopal too has not signed the report. Is it because they too agree that the Committee is unscientific and biased? How can the committee submit a report without the consent of its Chairman? And why has the biased report not explained this breach of mandatory protocol? The report has no scientific basis and is clearly biased. There is no evidence at all to justify their claims,” AOL said.

Read: Art of Living event is violence on environment: Bharati Chaturvedi

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