New Delhi, Aug. 28 -- The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has told the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that it identified 44 unauthorised colonies in Sangam Vihar while attempting to lay a sewage network, of which 33 are encroachments on forest land. According to its affidavit, 22 of these colonies are built entirely on forest land, while 11 are partly located on it.

The NGT had last year in March taken suo motu cognisance of a news report which flagged how the internal lanes of Sangam Vihar were broken, and garbage strewn across various places in the unauthorised colonies.

In a report dated August 13, 2025, the DJB said of Delhi's 1,799 unauthorised colonies, 44 formed a part of the Sangam Vihar area, with 33 encroaching on the southern and south-...