Blitz Bureau
The Supreme Court on October 14 agreed to examine a public interest litigation (PIL) filed against rampant illegal constructions on the floodplains and catchments of the rivers and water courses across the country.
ABench, headed by CJI DY Chandrachud, issued notices and called for responses from the Union Ministries of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Jal Shakti, and Earth Sciences, the Central Water Commission, and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) within a period of three weeks.
The PIL said that the unauthorised constructions on the floodplains and catchments of the rivers, their tributaries, water channels, and all water courses have become the biggest causes of floods and associated devastation.
Referring to the floods and devastation caused in Himachal Pradesh in the last two years, it said that the incidence of illegal constructions of buildings and other structures, encroachments and impediments on the riverbeds and floodplains of rivers poses one of the biggest threats to the rivers.
“Over the last two decades, the scale of devastation has assumed frightening proportions owing to climate change-induced extreme weather events such as cloud bursts, GLOF (glacial lake outburst floods) and extreme sudden precipitation,” said the petition.
