The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Wednesday issued show cause notice to industries located on the stretch from Haridwar to Kanpur asking as to why they should not be shut down for polluting river Ganga.
The bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar directed industries as tannery, paper and pulp, textile, slaughter houses to clear their stand on attainment of zero liquid discharge. It enquired on the installation of online monitoring systems, current status of these units and asked what steps they have taken till now to control pollution resulting from their activities.
The panel questioned, “Why we have not heard from you (polluting industries) since the past two years, even when pollution of the river continuesIJ “ The bench questioned whether these industries have got their trade effluent analysed. “Why we should not close down industries which are running without consent from the pollution boardIJ “ the panel asked. The next hearing of the tribunal has been scheduled on March 7.
During the course of hearing, the counsel for slaughter houses contended that they were not discharging anything into the river and in fact irrigating fields from their used water.
To this the tribunal further questioned on the kind of effluents being released into the underground water by way of irrigation. Without such analysis such an action is causing water pollution directly, it said.
The green panel had constituted a committee to look into the polluting industries located along the banks of Ganga on February 10. The committee was asked to inform on the quantum of sewage discharged by them in the river.
It had also asked the committee to look into the issue of bodies of humans and animals being dumped into the river and submit its report within three weeks.
The panel comprises of Member Secretary of Central Pollution Control Board, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board, Director of Environment Ministry a professor from IIT-Roorkee and CEO of UP Jal Nigam.
It ordered Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board to put on its website the list of 1,070 seriously polluting units and also the Environment Ministry to clarify the process of identifying seriously and grossly polluting industrial units in public domain.