Any building, hotel, dharmashala and ashram in Haridwar having more than 20 rooms or a built up area of over 10,000 square feet, will have to install its own sewage treatment plant (STP), said the National Green Tribunal (NGT), in a bid to reduce pollution in Ganga.
A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said that the sewage load on river Ganga and its tributaries was the main source of pollution of the river in Uttarakhand as the discharge of domestic waste and sewage was directly released into it.
The tribunal was told that apart from a large number of ashrams and dharamshalas, there are about 600 hotels in Rishikesh and Haridwar out of which only few have obtained consent from Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board. During the hearing, the board conveyed to the green panel that they have issued closure notice to 12 hotels out of which three have been closed and sealed.
The Bench directed, “We direct that all nine remaining hotels, to whom closure notices have been issued, should be closed/sealed and their water and electricity be disconnected in regard to provisions of the Act of 2006 within one week from today if not already been done.”