The Uttarakhand High Court has directed the Bageshwar district administration to ensure that there are no commercial activities on the banks of the Sarayu river from which waste is dumped in the river. The bench of acting chief justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari and justice Vivek Bharti Sharma issued this direction while hearing a public interest litigation filed against the dumping of garbage from shops in the Sarayu river during the Uttarayani Mela. The district administration informed the court during the hearing that commercial activities are held on the banks of the river during the fair but this is being stopped.
Bageshwar resident Puran Singh Rawat had filed the PIL stating that the Bageshwar municipality and district administration organize the Uttarayani Mela every year on the banks of the Sarayu. The municipality allots all types of shops on the banks of the river which include shops selling food and meat products. The waste from the meat shops is dumped into the Sarayu which pollutes the river. The petitioner has stated that there are a number of temples on the banks of this river and such dumping of waste also hurts the religious sentiments of the people. The local residents had submitted applications to the municipality and district administration on several occasions to stop this but no action was taken by the authorities, the petitioner has contended.
