The National Green Tribunal on April 13 decided that the expert committee report on the destruction caused by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living extravaganza on the floodplains of the Yamuna last year will be the only document it will refer to while dealing with the issue. It has rejected other applications in the issue.
The bench, comprising Justices Swatanter Kumar (Chairperson) and Raghuvendra S Rathore (Judicial Member) and Bikram Singh Sajwan (Expert Member) made it clear on April 13 that the only issue left was to deal with the environmental loss and compensation as per the report of the expert committee.
The expert committee’s report says that the extravaganza had “destroyed” the Yamuna floodplains and that its rehabilitation will cost Rs 13.29 crore and will take almost 10 years.
—By India Legal Bureau