Reader TTS

On Monday, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living (AOL), accused of damaging the Yamuna floodplain, questioned the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) November 2016 report. In the report, the

seven-member expert committee said that they “did not know the condition of the site before the event”. AOL’s counsel Nikhil Sakhardande pointed this out and said that if they could not

assess the condition of the floodplain before the event, then they were “admittedly not in a position to assess the impact of the WCF (World Culture Festival)”. According to an _Indian

Express_ report, AOL issued a statement that said: “The committee has given inconsistent statements while describing the state and factual position of the event site before the culture

festival was held. Whilst on the one hand, in its report dated 28 July, 2016, the committee in one paragraph (page 2 of the report dated 28 July, 2016) has described the state of the

floodplain before the event, on the other hand in its report dated November 28, 2016, it states that it is not possible to assess the ecological status of the riparian eco-system at the site

before the event.” Sakhardande also said the July 2016 report was based on a “single satellite image”, which was taken during the monsoon season when the wetlands existed and hence implied

that NGT’s report was not based on any proof. The next hearing of the case is expected to be on June 1, while AOL has demanded that NGT’s report be discarded.