Urgently form panel to check river pollution, district court tells Noida DM

As per the order from the additional district judge and secretary of the district legal aid authority, Rajiv Kumar Vats, the district is expected to form the body immediately, which will also monitor encroachment along the Hindon river in Gautam Budh Nagar area

The Noida district court has written to the district magistrate to urgently form the special environment surveillance task force to monitor river pollution in compliance with the November 2022 National Green Tribunal (NGT ) order.

The complainant had filed a case in NGT in November 25 last year regarding the increasing level of pollution in Hindon river and eventually the Yamuna. (Sakib Ali/HT PHOTO)

As per the order from the additional district judge and secretary of the district legal aid authority, Rajiv Kumar Vats, the district is expected to form the body immediately, which will also monitor encroachment along the Hindon river in Gautam Budh Nagar area.

The task force is expected to have members from the district administration, pollution control board, police and legal aid authority. We expect that the task force is immediately formed in compliance with the NGT order from November last year,” the judge stated in the order dated February 1.

This comes after a complaint by one Abhisht Kusum Gupta regarding the delay in formation of the committee. The complainant had filed a case in NGT in November 25 last year regarding the increasing level of pollution in Hindon river and eventually the Yamuna, wherein the NGT had ordered then that a committee be formed and submit its report on the current conservation status of Hindon river.

The case is scheduled for hearing on February 24.

On November 25, NGT in its order asked Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB), Union environment ministry, National Mission for Clean Ganga, UP Jal Nigam and the irrigation department to nominate one member each for the committee.

However, none of the agencies has nominated any member for the committee. UPPCB was made the nodal agency that submitted to court last week that none of the agencies has nominated any member, due to which the report could not be prepared.