New Delhi, Jul 24 (PTI) The National Green Tribunal has sought a response from Uttar Pradesh environment secretary for not following the Supreme Court’s direction of establishing sewage treatment plants within three years.
The NGT was hearing a matter regarding the discharge of sewage and domestic and untreated industrial wastewater in river Ganga at several places in Varanasi.
In an order passed last week, a bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava noted that the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) had filed a fresh report on July 8.
According to the report, there were three partially tapped drains discharging untreated wastewater in river Ganga — Assi or Nagwa, Nakkha and Samne Ghat — under Varanasi Nagar Nigam, while there were two untapped drains, Sayar Mata Mandir and Ghatwari Mata Mandir, under Sujabad nagar panchayat.
The other untapped drains included the Ghuraha drain under Chandauli Zilla Panchayat and the Ganda and Railway drains under nagar palika parishad, Pandit Deendayal Upadhya Nagar, Chandauli, the report said.
Taking note of some photographs of the drains enclosed with the report, the tribunal observed that these showed the “pathetic condition of the drains at the point where they are discharging untreated sewage in river Ganga.” It also noted the analysis reports of the drains, according to which the samples did not meet the prescribed norms and “very high” faecal coliform levels were found.
The tribunal said the Supreme Court had issued directions for setting up Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) and Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) within three years and the responsibility for implementing the direction was upon the member secretary of the state pollution control board and secretary of the state government’s environment department.
It said, “The Supreme Court had passed the above judgment on February 22, 2017, and the timeline of three years has expired yet the action has not been completed.” The tribunal then impleaded as party or respondent the state’s environment secretary, saying the official was answerable in case of not following the apex court’s direction, for monitoring the progress and for issuing necessary directions to the state board.
“Let notice be served upon the above newly added respondent for filing the report in respect of the compliance of the directions of the Supreme Court,” the tribunal said.
It also directed the district magistrate (DM) of Varanasi to disclose the “details of the untapped/partially tapped drains and the details/quantity of sewage flowing from these drains into river Ganga”.
The matter has been listed on October 16 for further proceedings.
Earlier in February, the tribunal had observed that the water in the downstream of river Ganga at Varanasi was not fit even for bathing.
This was after it considered the report of the city’s municipal corporation which said about 100 million litres per day (MLD) of treated and untreated wastewater is being discharged into the river.
Two months later, it had also imposed Rs 10,000 as costs on a chief environmental officer for not following the tribunal’s orders. PTI MNR MNR KSS KSS
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.