Civic body faces takeover if Ulhas River remains polluted
This is really shocking. Does the Municipality and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board [MPCB] have to be told to do this? Drinking water is a basic requirement for everybody. What is stopping them from destroying he life of millions of innocent people? I am glad that my friend and fellow activist Stalin Dayanand has taken up this vital issue through his NGO Vanashakti.
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
14th May 2014 The Times of India
Figure 1 Untreated waste dumped into rivers
Mumbai: The Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation (UMC) was on Tuesday warned by the Pune bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that it will have to stop discharging untreated sewage and effluents into the drinking water source of Kalyan-Dombivli.
The tribunal gave three months to the municipal corporation to clean up its act, failing which “it would be constrained to direct the secretary, urban development department to exercise powers under the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act to control the corporation and deal with the problems of pollution in the area”.
NGO Vanshakti had filed an appeal before the NGT to restore the Ulhas river, which was seeing discharge of untreated effluents from MIDC industrial estates, seriously affecting the health of people in Ambernath, Badlapur, Ulhasnagar, Kalyan-Dombivli and elsewhere.
Figure 2 Criminal discharge of effluents into water bodies
The NGT observed that information provided by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board showed there was no sewage treatment plant (STP) provided by the Badlapur Municipal Council.
The NGT order read: “It also appears that Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation, has provided STP of very low capacity, which does not take care of sewage generated….”
The tribunal said in view of the submission by the MIDC that the process of laying pipelines in the sea-bed to discharge effluents would take time, it directed the UMC to divert Khemni nala to avoid discharge of sewage and effluent in the river or water bodies.
The Ulhas river sees discharge of untreated sewage and effluents
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