New Delhi, Apr 24: Observing that two Uttar Pradesh civic bodies had “flagrantly violated” the rules by failing to prevent the discharge of pollutants in the Yamuna, the National Green Tribunal on Wednesday imposed a fine of more than Rs 65 crore on the municipal corporations of Agra and Mathura-Vrindavan.
The green panel was hearing two petitions regarding the pollution of the Yamuna in Agra and Mathura-Vrindavan because of the discharge of untreated sewage.
A bench of National Green Tribunal Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava said, “We have no hesitation in holding that protection of water ecology of river Yamuna and its cleanliness was the statutory and constitutional obligation of the state (it) but has miserably failed to perform it.” “The statutory bodies like local bodies in Agra and Mathura-Vrindavan have failed in the prevention of a discharge of polluted material in river Yamuna and allowed its pollution by discharging huge quantity of polluted sewer therein,” the bench, also comprising Judicial Member Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Expert Member A Senthil Vel, said.
In a 200-page judgment, the bench said the nagar nigams (municipal corporations) of both places and the agencies operating their sewage treatment plants (STPs) violated provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act by not preventing the discharge. The Agra civic body also violated the act by operating two STPs set up without requisite consent, the tribunal said.
