Ensure waste is not dumped into Kahn, Saraswati rivers: NGT's judicial member

A judicial member of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Dalip Singh conducted an inspection of the ongoing work to clean the Kahn and Saraswati Rivers in Indore on Sunday and instructed the district collector to finish the work before the start of Simhastha festival in April 2016.

A judicial member of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Dalip Singh conducted an inspection of the ongoing work to clean the Kahn and Saraswati Rivers on Sunday and instructed the district collector to finish the work before the start of Simhastha festival in April 2016.

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Singh held a meeting with the collector and Indore Municipal Corporation officials and directed them to ensure that waste, especially construction waste, is not dumped into the rivers.

District collector P Narahari told Singh that a sewerage treatment plant with the capacity of 245 MLD (million liters per day) will be ready before Simhastha fair.

The state government had recently awarded a R100 crore contract for the diversion of Kahn River through giant pipelines to bypass the water from mixing into the Kshipra River before Ujjain.

Singh questioned this move, asking officials that if a sewerage treatment plant was being constructed, then what was the need to divert the river's course?

The district administration also recently initiated the process of resettling slum dwellers from the banks of Kahn River to remove encroachment on the river and widen it according to the tribunal's directions.

Kishore Kodwani, the petitioner, who was also present in the meeting, pointed out that the filthy situation of the rivers can also be attributed to irresponsible behaviour on the part of some of the staff of the municipal body who instead of carrying garbage to the designated sites, dump them into the rivers.

Noting the allegations made by the petitioner, Singh directed the corporation to sensitise its staff about these issues and initiate strict action against the defaulting staff members.