Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal constituted a committee to take “expeditious remedial” action regarding the pollution of Dal Lake in Kashmir.
The green panel observed that immediate measures were required to check the pollutants, such as untreated sewage, from entering the lake. The NGT body was was hearing the matter regarding the deteriorating condition of the water body.
A bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava in a recent order said the Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Committee (J&KPCC) had filed a report that untreated sewage was flowing into Dal Lake and there were about 910 houseboats in Dal and Nigeen Lake and their wastewater was being discharged into the lake.
“The said response reveals the unabated flow of untreated domestic water into channels and violation of environmental norms in the sample analysis report such as high concentration of Bio-Chemical Oxygen Deman (BOD), total coliform and faecal coliform etc.,” said the bench also comprising judicial member Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and expert member A Senthil Vel.
The bench said that the lake’s two backflow channels (Nayadar and Jogilankar) were “almost anaerobic”, having a “high organic load” and that the sewage treatment plants (STP) were not operating properly.
“Expeditious remedial action is required to be taken to ensure that pollutants do not enter the Dal Lake. Hence, we form a joint committee,” the tribunal said. It will comprise the member secretary of J&KPCC, vice chairman of J&K Lake Conservation and Management Authority, Dy Commissioner and District Magistrate of Srinagar, a CPCB nominated officer and the Chandigarh regional office of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, it said.
