The National Green Tribunal (NGT) allows Baliyatra festival on the banks of Mahanadi

The suspense over the annual historic Baliyatra festival has been cleared because the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has finally allowed the Cuttack district authorities to go ahead with necessary arrangements on the banks of Mahanadi.
Of course, the NGT has issued a clause directing the administration to maintain cleanliness and ensure that garbage is not dumped nor permanent structures erected on the river bed.
This has been reported in thestatesman.com dated 5 November 2016.

The area were the festival is held is not a river bed and it is alluvial area or, rather, an old land mass. Allotment of sites to vendors for stalls will begin immediately.
The NGT had on 2 November issued directions and restrictions of erection of stalls on a petition filed by an environmental activist. The festival marks the ancient maritime history of Odisha and is a yearly event that happens at around this time of the year - it starts on 14 November.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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125 hotels in Haridwar identified for dirtying the Ganga - faces strict action including closure

The state Pollution Control Board (PCB) plans to initiate action against 125 hotels in the city of Haridwar for dumping their effluents into the Ganga. This is in clear violation of a National Green tribunal (NGT) order of August 19 which has made it mandatory for all hotels with 20 or more rooms to have their own sewage treatment plant (STP) or bio-digester so that untreated sewage from them does not go into the river.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 3 September 2016.

The PCB had asked the regional office at Roorkee to provide a list of hotels in Haridwar with 20 or more rooms. Accordingly, a list of 125 hotels in this category was submitted to the PCB and all these hotels are allegedly flouting the NGT order because their sewage goes directly into the Ganga.
A list of ashrams and dharmashalas in the category is also being prepared.
Till now, 12 hotels in Garhwal and 15 in Kumaon have been sealed for flouting the NGT order. In Haridwar, five hotels have already faced action from the PCB for flouting the order. These were issued closure orders. But they have gone to court and were allowed time till August 27 to set up their STPs, which they have complied with.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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