Category : Water Pollution | Location : Delhi | Posted on 2021-08-03 23:15:13
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday pulled up authorities in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi over continuous discharge of polluted water in the Yamuna River, remarking that officials should “protect public health and environment” and not just “enjoy position and perks.”
“Industries are discharging untreated sewage water in the river with impunity, as if the law of the land does not exist. In spite of categorical observations in the reports of the statutory regulators, not even a single person is shown to have been prosecuted,” a bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel noted. The tribunal called this a “clear failure” of constitutional obligations of the relevant authorities, who, it said, have continued to remain “mute spectators of serious crimes against humanity.”
“Therefore, the said authorities have failed to realise that they are holding positions of high trust and not to just enjoy position and perks at the cost of miseries of innocent citizens,” the green body said further.
The bench was referring to authorities such as Noida authority, district magistrates, Uttar Pradesh State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), UP Police and the Pollution Control Board. It further directed officials from both Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, including the two chief secretaries, to hold in-house meeting with concerned departments within 15 days to take stock of the situation and plan various corrective measures, including accountability of erring officers, preventing pollutants from being discharged into drains etc.
The Delhi Jal Board (DJB), it said, needs to confirm that no sewage or any other effluent is being discharged into drains entering Noida, while the latter has to explain the sewage management status of sewage generated by residential socities
“The tribunal expects meaningful improvement in the situation to prevent serious violations affecting the right to life, which have been going on for a long time without any meaningful action,” the bench said. It was hearing a plea filed by a Noida resident against sewer water being disposed in an irrigation canal near Sector 137 in the Gautam Buddh Nagar district.
River Yamuna is a tributary of the Ganges and several cities across north India, including Delhi, are located on its banks.
