BHARALU RIVER POLLUTION
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court directed the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) to implement the action plan to reduce pollution, as suggested by the River Rejuvenation Committee (RRC) for the Bharalu River.
It was pointed out that the suggestions and coercive measures given in the report dated September 23, 2019, are yet to be implemented.
The GMC had submitted that steps have been taken to alleviate the issue of pollutants being discharged into the Bharalu River. However, as per the Standing Counsel of Gauhati High Court, H.K. Das, the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) level of the water samples is alarmingly high at many places.
A two-member bench of the High Court (HC) comprising Chief Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice Suman Shyam was hearing a suo moto PIL (4/2023) registered on the strength of a letter from Pratap Chandra Das, a former student of Sonaram Higher Secondary School, Guwahati, which is located by the side of the Bharalu river.
It was stated that an affidavit has been filed by Gauhati Municipal Corporation, one of the respondents, indicating that some steps have been taken to alleviate the issue of pollutants being discharged into the Bharalu River.
However, the court noted that, as per the standing counsel of Gauhati High Court H.K. Das, the BOD level of the water samples is alarmingly high at many places. Advocate Das had also drawn the court’s attention to the report prepared by the River Rejuvenation Committee for the Bharalu River and the fact that the suggestions and coercive measures given in the report are yet to be implemented.
The court directed the standing counsel of GMC to take instructions from the authorities concerned regarding the implementation of the suggestions given in the report prepared by the RRC.
Earlier, H.K. Das had presented a report on the contaminated water from all water sources flowing into the Brahmaputra at different locations within Guwahati.
Passing the direction that GMC should implement the suggestions of the RRC, the court listed the hearing of the case for November 30, 2023.
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