Issuing notice to the Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB) and 30 factories at State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand limited (SIIDCUl) Pantnagar, the High Court of Uttarakhand has sought a reply from them in a period of four weeks. According to the case details, resident of Chatarpur area in Rudrapur, Himanshu Chandola had filed a public interest litigation in the high court stating that 30 factories in the Pantnagar area of Udham Singh Nagar district were flouting court orders by spreading pollution in the area. Earlier on December 21, 2016 the high court had directed that such industrial units which are apathetic to the environment and discharge chemical effluents in water sources and spew polluting smoke from chimneys should be closed down. However the directions of the court were not enforced by the administration, the petitioner stated. The petitioner further stated that in addition to the smoke spewed from the factory chimneys, the chemical effluent from the factors was being drained into the canals. This in turn has also had an adverse impact on agriculture with farmers finding it difficult to grow vegetables and other crops. The people living in the area are also suffering from various breathing related and other ailments as a result of the pollution being spread by the industrial units in the region. The petitioner went on to state that the local residents had also complained about the polluting factories to the pollution control board but no action had been taken. Taking cognisance of the petition, the court issued notices to 30 factories in the SIIDCUl Pantnagar area barring two enterprises. After hearing on the petition, the high court also decided to issue a notice to the UEPPCB also seeking a reply from it within a period of four weeks on the issue.
The petition was taken up for hearing by the high court division bench comprising chief justice KM Joseph and justice Alok Singh.