Expressing concern over the condition of sewage treatment, pollution and water quality in the Gomti, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has sought a response from the Uttar Pradesh government by the end of this month.
The order was passed on July 2 by a three-member bench comprising NGT chairperson justice Prakash Shrivastava, justice Sudhir Agarwal, and expert member A Senthil Vel.
The matter pertains to the discharge of untreated water and municipal waste in the Gomti river.
The public interest litigation (PIL) was pending in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court, which passed several orders.
However, the high court transferred the PIL to the NGT on January 31, 2024. The tribunal has scheduled the next hearing for September 17.
The NGT had raised serious objections to the Uttar Pradesh government’s report on the status of sewage treatment plants (STPs) and sewage waste management (SWM) in the state, flagging various gaps and directing the state to fill them before the next date of hearing.
A three-member NGT bench, in its order passed on May 26, had also handed over a prescribed format to the state and directed it to submit details before July 28, the next date of hearing.
{{/usCountry}}A three-member NGT bench, in its order passed on May 26, had also handed over a prescribed format to the state and directed it to submit details before July 28, the next date of hearing.
{{/usCountry}}The bench pointed out that against the disclosure of 95% waste processing facilities (with capacity to process 19,014 tonnes per day), the report declared the quantity of segregated waste at 74% or 14,884 TPD. “This anomaly needs to be clarified,” the NGT said.
The tribunal also objected to the state’s failure to place on record any material to support the claim in the report that 100% remediation of legacy waste (accumulated solid waste improperly collected and stored for an extended period, often in landfills or dumpsites) has been completed at 60 sites.
On sewage management, the tribunal pointed to the disclosure in the report that only 2.1 million of the total 5.21 million houses in 17 municipal corporations were connected to the sewerage system, and remarked that untreated sewage was being discharged into the environment.