New Delhi, Jul 22 (PTI) The National Green Tribunal has formed a panel to find the correct factual position about the discharge of sewage and other pollutants in Mandakini river in Uttarakhand’s Kedarnath.
The NGT was hearing a plea claiming the absence of any sewage treatment plant (STP) at the pilgrim place of Kedarnath Dham.
It alleged that sewage was being discharged into the river and that the lack of solid waste management also caused the river’s pollution.
Mandakini is a tributary of the Alaknanda river and runs for around 81 km between Rudraprayag and Sonprayag areas in the state after emerging from Chaorabari Glacier. It merges with the river Songanga at Sonprayag.
In a recent order, a bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava said that the plea raised a “substantial issue relating to compliance of the environmental norms”.
“To ascertain the status at the ground level, we constitute a joint committee comprising representatives of member secretary, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), District Magistrate (DM) of Rudraprayag, regional office of Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in Dehradun,” the bench said.
The bench, which also comprised judicial member Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and expert member A Senthil Vel, said the DM will act as the committee’s nodal agency.
“The joint committee will visit the site to ascertain the correct position in respect of the compliance of the norms relating to liquid and solid waste management and discharge of sewage and other pollutant in river Mandakini at Kedarnath and also take water sample of river Mandakini and get the analysis done and submit the report,” it said.
The matter has been listed on October 4 for further proceedings. PTI MNR MNR BHJ BHJ
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