The National Green Tribunal (NGT) earlier this week issued a notice to the commissioner of the Varanasi Municipal Corporation and the Panchayati Raj officer of Chandauli district of Uttar Pradesh regarding complaints of discharge of domestic and untreated industrial wastewater into the Ganga river.
The notice was issued by the Bench of Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava while hearing the petition filed in the green court regarding the discharge of wastewater into the Ganga river at various places in Varanasi.
The NGT, in May 2022, had constituted a committee headed by the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) to look into the complaint and submit a report.
“Let notice be issued to the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Varanasi, and District Panchayat Raj Officer, Chandauli, for filing the response for taking steps in pursuance of the recommendations of the committee,” the tribunal said in an order on Monday.
In its report to the court, the committee had recommended the construction of a separate drain to discharge the industrial effluents generated from the Ramnagar industrial area. It further recommended that the Panchayati Raj officer of Chandauli could “develop a faecal sludge and septic management system for the treatment of municipal sewage”.
