NGT orders joint panel to inspect encroachments at Sambhar Lake
The National Green Tribunal's Central Zone Bench in Bhopal on September 28 set up a joint committee to inspect Rajasthan's Sambhar Lake, a Ramsar wetland, over alleged encroachments, illegal salt pans, borewell extraction of brine and groundwater, and blocked inflows. The panel must report within six weeks; the case returns on December 9.
Syllabus: Prelims · Environment & Ecology; GS2 · Statutory & Regulatory Bodies; GS3 · Environment & Conservation
Why it matters
A salt lake like Sambhar survives only if enough rainwater flows in and salt levels stay within limits. If the claims hold, the lake is shrinking, turning saltier and losing water quality, which hurts the birds that depend on it. The case tests whether a Ramsar-listed wetland can be protected from salt-making and groundwater pumping.
Prelims pointers
- Sambhar Lake is a saline Ramsar wetland in Rajasthan, important for migratory waterbirds including flamingos. The NGT described it as India’s largest inland saline wetland.
- The NGT's Central Zone Bench sits in Bhopal.
- 'Samand': the term for land recorded as lakebed at Sambhar.
- The application links the lake's shrinking and rising hypersalinity to excess groundwater extraction, reduced inflows and high evaporation.
Practise a UPSC-style question
Consider the following statements about the NGT’s joint committee on Sambhar Lake:
1. The Central Pollution Control Board was designated its nodal agency.
2. The State Wetland Authority Rajasthan is represented on the committee.
3. The committee includes a representative of the Central Pollution Control Board.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 1 and 2 only
- (c) 2 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Show the answer
Answer: (c) 2 and 3 only
Statements 2 and 3 are correct. The State Wetland Authority Rajasthan and the CPCB are represented, along with the Jaipur collector and Rajasthan SPCB. The Rajasthan SPCB, rather than the CPCB, is the nodal agency, so statement 1 is false.
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