The National Green Tribunal on Wednesday issued showcause notice to industries, hotels located along the stretch of the Ganga river stretch from Haridwar to Kanpur asking as to why they should not be shut down for polluting the holy river. In the current financial year as many 39 industries were given notices by NGT giving them the deadline of 31 March out of which only 4 or 5 industries have not responded say the authorities. Following NGT orders, as many as 250 hotels have also been slapped notices by the district administration in Haridwar asking them to take license from Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB) since the sewage waste of most of these is directly being poured in Ganga river and no arrangement has been made for sewage treatment plant.
In the financial year ending on 31 March, state Pollution Control Board had slapped notices to 250 hotels out of which three still remain closed as on date. A five star hotel Radisson Blu was also sealed last year which opened after two days of submission of necessary documents related to sewage treatment plant. Three hotels including Haridwar Park Prime, Shiv Sai still remain closed said the UEPPCB regional officer Ankur Kansal.
Speaking to the Pioneer, Kansal said, “Out of the 39 industrial units, the closure order of only 9 have been revoked after they submitted the relevant evidences and documents to the PCB. Six industrial units had responded showing their unwillingness to continue their industries, power supply of 12 have been disconnected while 6 others got stay order from the High Court. 8 units are still sealed in the district. The remaining industries are in process of submission of relevant documents and 31 March is the deadline."
Not having license to run the factory, two such units were also sealed by the Pollution Control Board. The production houses of Takshi auto in SIIDCUl area of Haridwar and Texplas in Bahadurjat Saini village area have been sealed.
Observers opine that coordinated action by the state government, UEPPCB and NGT can mitigate the mushrooming of commercial enterprises here can prevent pollution while also saving both time and energy of the departments and the industrialists but the action is taken years after the units come into existence.