Sri Sri's Art of Living fined just Rs 5 crore, event to go on at Yamuna's bank in Delhi

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal on Wednesday gave a green signal to the Art of Living's World Culture Festival but imposed a fine of just Rs 5 crore as environment compensation.

The Tribunal has fined the Delhi Development Authority of Rs 5 lakh. The NGT said the permission granted by DDA was very vague and it cannot be termed a recreation activity. The DDA has neither conducted inspection prior to granting permission or after that, the Tribunal added.

The NGT said that Art of Living will develop the entire area into biodiversity and will file undertaking that within two weeks. The organisation has been asked to pay balance amount for restoration.

The Tribunal also asked Art of Living to give undertaking by Thursday that enzymes won't be released into Yamuna and no further degradation of environment will happen.

The Tribunal further said that the Delhi Pollution Control Committee has failed to discharge its obligation and a fine of Rs 1 lakh has been imposed on it.

The NGT said that it was primarily dealing with ecological aspects and not strictly concerned about cultural events. The NGT said that it is unable to grant prohibitory orders for the three-day event as there was a delay in approaching it.

Moreover, petitioners will not appeal against the NGT order in Supreme Court.

The order came hours after the Centre defended the Art of Living event, with Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi saying the organisation was committed to protecting the environment.

Earlier in the day, the tribunal severely criticised the environment ministry for allowing constructions on banks of the Yamuna Bank for the World Culture Festival.

NGT asked the ministry why environmental clearance was not called for and why it came to the conclusion that the constructions were temporary.

Earlier, Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar had appealed all parties to not politicise the event. "I appeal to all parties to not politicize the #WCF2016. It is to unite all cultures, nations, religions & ideologies. Let's come together!," he tweeted.