The Uttarakhand high court on Tuesday directed the forest department to provide details with 24 hours of a suitable land available for building a solid waste treatment plant in Haldwani where solid waste could be disposed of on scientific lines and forest clearance is provided for the same at the earliest.
The court said this should be done so that its early direction regarding constructing a solid waste management plant in Haldwani within the next six months could be complied with, said Alok Dalakoti, counsel for the petitioner in the case.
The direction was given by the division bench of justices Rajiv Sharma and Sharad Kumar Sharma while hearing a public interest petition (PIL) filed by Haldwani-based Jan Vikas Samiti of Indira Nagar in 2017.
The PIL said biomedical waste was being dumped around the banks of Gola river in the name of trenching ground.
The Jan Vikas Samiti said it was causing environmental pollution in the area and could be detrimental to local people and ecology.
Dalakoti said the trenching ground where hundreds of tonnes of waste was being dumped had been operating on forest land without permission.
He said the HC on July 10 directed the state government to construct a anew solid waste management plant in Haldwani within the next six months on some suitable land.
{{/usCountry}}He said the HC on July 10 directed the state government to construct a anew solid waste management plant in Haldwani within the next six months on some suitable land.
{{/usCountry}}Dalakoti said the court on Tuesday directed the additional principal chief conservator of forests (APCCF) to provide details of the land available for constructing the solid waste disposal plant .
On June 21, on the occasion of the world yoga day, residents in Haldwani had practised yoga at the trenching ground wearing masks to highlight their plight.
Hundreds of tonnes of waste materials are being dumped into the trenching ground at the Gola Bypass in Haldwani area on daily basis, causing problems for the residents who live nearby.