Rivers, reservoirs monitoring panel scrapped by NGT

LUCKNOW : After the scrapping of the UP Solid Waste Management Monitoring Committee on July 15, the Eastern UP Rivers and Water Reservoirs Monitoring Committee has also been disbanded through an order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

The committee’s last meeting was convened at the environment directorate on Monday.

DP Singh, chairman of the committee, said, “The charge shall be handed over by the secretary of the committee, Rajendra Singh, to the representative of the department of urban development before October 10.”

The UP Solid Waste Management Monitoring Committee and the Eastern UP Rivers and Water Reservoirs Monitoring Committee -- both set up by the NGT -- had caused a stir by recommending strong punitive action, including heavy fines, against industries polluting land and rivers.

These committee had slapped crores of fines on municipal corporations as well as the UPPCB.

Officials said the committees’ actions had irked higher officials of state government and hinted that there may have been pressure on NGT to scrap them. They said the committees had exposed several industries that were throwing harmful effluents directly into rivers in Gorakhpur, Lucknow and Ghaziabad.

“Last month, a factory in Lucknow had to be closed after it allegedly released effluent into a nearby drain that is believed to have caused the death of around 25 buffaloes. The panels had all such units on their radar,” said an official. At the last meeting of the rivers and reservoirs monitoring panel, Justice DP Singh said, “The urban development department would be desired to maintain websites of the two monitoring committees and providing an appropriate forum for receiving complaints from citizens regarding municipal solid wastes, biomedical waste, plastic wastes as well as pollution of water bodies in the manner done by the present committee since a year and take follow-up action accordingly.”