NGT directs KSPCB to act against establishments polluting temple town Kollur

Bengaluru: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) to crack down on all the violators discharging sewage to the Agnitheertha and Souparnika rivers in the temple town of Kollur in Udupi district.

The southern zone bench of the tribunal, comprising Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and expert-member Satyagopal Korlapati, was looking into the issue of pollution of rivers by commercial establishments around Mookambika Temple.

The tribunal looked into a report filed by the executive officer of the temple that Rs 19.97 crore has been spent for providing an underground drainage (UGD) system to the town.

Many of the homestays were also connected to the UGD system. However, due to a lack of maintenance and technical knowhow, the system has become defunct.

While the Deputy Commissioner, Udupi, submitted that a sewage treatment plant (STP) of 1.5 mld has been established by the temple authority, the KSPCB stated that the plant has not been issued consent for operation. The board had also issued notice to the Kollur Gram Panchayat to ensure that all the houses are connected to UGD.

While a few of the lodges and hotels have been dumping their sewage, a joint inspection of different departments found that many houses, homestays and lodges were disposing solid waste into the UGD system leading to frequent blockages.

Stressing the need to make the STP operational, the bench asked stakeholder departments to coordinate with each other for the same. “We direct the KSPCB to take appropriate action against all violators discharging sewage into the storm water drain - not only those identified in the report submitted by the Deputy Commissioner, Udupi,” it said, pointing to the list of violators in the deputy commissioner’s report.