Arvind Kejriwal bungalow renovation violated environmental norms? Panel to probe

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) said it will constitute a joint committee to investigate the allegations claiming there were a violation of environmental norms in the construction/renovation of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's bungalow. This committee will include the Chief Secretary (Delhi), the Principal Secretary (Environment and Forest), the representative of the Delhi Urban Art Commission, and the District Magistrate of North Delhi. The tribunal has asked the committee to file an affidavit within a week. The next hearing on the matter is scheduled for May 31. 

NGT's order copy accessed

AAP founder Kejriwal's residence at 6 Flagstaff Road in the Civil Lines area is said to have been built after the felling of 28 trees. The order copy says the expansion of the Delhi CM's residence and the felling of trees required the approval of the Delhi Urban Art Commission (DUAC) which was not granted. The new three-storey bungalow was initially a single-storey structure and now covers an area of around 20,000 square feet. This is double the amount of the previously covered area, according to Congress senior spokesperson Ajay Maken, who wrote a letter to Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena over the renovation. 

Arguing that since there was no DUAC approval, the "construction was raised illegally, ignoring the observations of DUAC for increasing the green area which ipso facto is violation of Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957," the order said. Moreover, the approval for the construction had a condition that 280 saplings must be planted to compensate for the cutting of the trees but only 83 saplings were planted. "Such cutting is illegal for which accountability of the person responsible should be fixed as per law," the order further said. 

While there has been a huge uproar over the construction cost (Rs 45 crore) for Kejriwal's residence, Congress' Maken told L-G Saxena that it actually cost Rs 171 crore. He further claimed that 15 out of 22 officers' houses adjacent to CM's house at Flagstaff Road were either demolished or got vacated. "I thus request you to conduct an inquiry in the matter. And if found guilty, grant sanction for prosecution of the principal beneficiary, the chief minister, and the principal perpetrator, the PWD minister of GNCTD," Maken wrote in his letter to the L-G.