The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has come down heavily on the Uttar Pradesh government for failing to take adequate steps to check pollution in the Rapti river. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said that the “failure of the administration” resulted in death of more than 500 children in Gorakhpur in 2014.
The Samajwadi Party was in power in 2014 and Akhilesh Yadav was the chief minister of the state. The NGT, however, said that the situation has not improved in the last four years.
The NGT called it a failure of administration as it failed to prevent discharge of pollutants in Rapti river. The NGT announced setting up of a monitoring committee to address the situation saying that in this “crisis situation of failure of law”, it was left with no alternative but to constitute a credible mechanism to oversee planning and execution of steps on urgent basis.
The green panel said the authorities have failed in performing their duties to protect environment and they have taken “very little and insignificant steps” despite its direction in the last four years.
“We are of the view that there is undoubtedly failure of the administration for preventing pollution which has resulted in death of children as already noted. There is continued violation of environmental norms for which action is not being taken. In spite of direction in the last four years very little and insignificant steps have been taken and the result is that the pollution still continues,” the NGT bench said.
“In such an emergent situation the stand of the authorities of shifting the burden of the responsibility from one department to another is against the spirit of the Constitution. They have to come together and take immediate steps to prevent any further damage and also to reverse the damage already done. Those responsible for failure have to be made accountable. Those who have suffered need to be rehabilitated,” the bench said.
The NGT directed the Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh to provide logistic support to the committee and determine their remuneration in consultation with them. The NGT was hearing a plea by Gorakhpur resident Meera Shukla contending that the district does not have any sewage treatment plant and entire sewage through different drains is directly discharged into water bodies or Rapti river.
The matter will come up for next hearing on January 10. The petitioner had claimed that more than 500 deaths happened in 2014 alone due to high contamination of water. She alleged that large sum of money had been spent without any effective measures and control of water pollution.
(With PTI inputs)
