NGT Grants UPPCB Two Weeks to Submit Additional Report on River Hindon Pollution

The National Green Tribunal has asked the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board UPPCB to submit within two weeks an additional report on pollution of the Hindon river including action it has taken against offending municipal bodies.The tribunal had in December last year ordered the UPPCB to initiate criminal proceedings against officers in charge of municipal bodies of Saharanpur, Baghpat, Meerut, Shamli, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad and Muzaffarnagar for their failure to prevent pollution of the river.

The National Green Tribunal has asked the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) to submit within two weeks an additional report on pollution of the Hindon river including action it has taken against offending municipal bodies.

The tribunal had in December last year ordered the UPPCB to initiate criminal proceedings against officers in charge of municipal bodies of Saharanpur, Baghpat, Meerut, Shamli, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad and Muzaffarnagar for their failure to prevent pollution of the river. Hindon is a major source of water in the seven districts. In an order passed on Monday, a bench of NGT Chairperson Prakash Shrivastava, after noting the board’s report dated May 3 said, ''Counsel for the UPPCB has submitted that the prosecution against the officers of Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority in Gautam Buddha Nagar is currently under process.'' But regarding the remaining municipal bodies, the UPPCB did not mention anything and the counsel sought time to seek instructions, the bench, also comprising judicial member Justice Sudhir Agarwal and expert member A Senthil Vel, noted.

Expressing dissatisfaction, the green panel said, ''When a clear direction was issued to the Member Secretary, UPPCB (for initiating criminal proceedings) then he was required to comply with the same without any fear or favour and if there was any non-compliance or a reason for non-compliance, then he ought to have clearly stated it in its subsequent report but that does not appear to have been done by him.'' It also said while the tribunal in its earlier order directed initiation of criminal proceedings against all industries (around 357) discharging pollutants into the river, the report mentioned action was taken only against three.

Along with these ''deficiencies'' some other details were also not mentioned, the tribunal noted.

These included the details regarding the water quality of the Hindon river and its tributaries, the performance of 19 sewage treatment plants (STPs) and the number of untapped drains in the seven districts, it said.

The tribunal said, ''Water quality of Hindon and its tributaries have not been furnished, except indicating that river Hindon at its end location has biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) as high as 20 milligrams per litre (mg/l).'' High BOD value indicates high degree of pollution.

It directed the UPPCB to provide the number of drains joining the tributaries of the Hindon.

''In the next report, the UPPCB will also disclose the details of water quality analysis of the STPs installed on the drains flowing in the river and also the water quality of river Hindon,'' the tribunal said.

The green panel allowed the UPPCB counsel's request for granting him two weeks to submit the additional report and posted the matter for July 11 for further proceedings.

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