India, Jan. 29 -- A low-lying, water-filled stretch near north Delhi's Wazirabad was never a water body, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has told the National Green Tribunal (NGT), pushing back against allegations that a wetland was buried under inert waste from the Bhalswa landfill.

The submission comes months after the NGT took suo motu cognisance of a media report flagging the disappearance of what was locally known as the Jharoda pond, allegedly filled using inert material generated during bio-remediation of the Bhalswa landfill.

The tribunal had issued notices to multiple agencies, including the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and the DDA, ...