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River pollution: NGT directs States to act
Why in news?
- Taking suo motu cognisance of a report in The Hindu on the increase in polluted river stretches in the country, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed all States and Union Territories to prepare action plans within two months.
Observations and
Directions
- The pollution control boards had failed to check pollution.
- They have not been able to stop dumping of waste, discharge of effluents in rivers and water bodies.
- The situation is far from satisfactory and action is required to be taken on war footing.
- There has to be meaningful further action to restore the minimum prescribed standards for all the rivers of the country.
- The action plans should aim at improving the polluted stretches for at least bathing purposes.
- The tribunal specified that Chief Secretaries of each State and administrators of UTs will be personally accountable for failure to formulate action plan.
- The bench directed that four-member committees, comprising representatives of State pollution control boards and the State governments, be constituted for preparing and executing the action plans.
- The action plan will include components like identification of polluting sources including functioning or status of sewage treatment plants, common effluent treatment plants, solid waste management and processing facilities, quantification and characterisation of sewage generated in the catchment area of the polluted river stretch.
Source
The Hindu