JOIN USNGT to govt: stop sewage flow into Bellandur lake
The National Green Tribunal on Wednesday pulled up the Karnataka government for not stopping the discharge of untreated sewage into Bellandur lake.
It warned that if the state authorities concerned failed to take immediate steps to prevent the flow of polluted water into the lake, it would issue directions in this regard.
The principal bench of the NGT headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar, which is hearing the incidents of fire in the lake in Bengaluru, directed the principal secretary to the Karnataka Urban Development Department to be present before the tribunal on the next date of hearing, scheduled on April 18.
Expressing unhappiness over the Karnataka Lake Development Authority’s inability to ensure the cleanliness of the lake and allowing incidents like fire in the water body, the bench directed the state government and its agencies to apprise the tribunal of the measures taken to prevent such disasters.
The bench, however, allowed the impleading application of the Karnataka State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation while disposing of an impleadment application filed by Kupendra Reddy, Rajya Sabha MP, as he has preferred a separate original application. The bench issued notices to various civic agencies of Karnataka on the original application filed by Reddy.
Earlier notices
On February 20, the NGT had taken suo motu cognizance of media reports and photographs of the incident in which a major fire broke out in the Bengaluru lake. Following this, it had issued notices to the Union environment ministry, the Karnataka government, the Lake Development Authority, and state and central pollution control boards.
The tribunal had asked the organisations to file an affidavit, listing out the steps taken to stop such incidents as well as restoration of the water body. The agencies have already submitted a report to the NGT, giving the timeline for the restoration of the lake.