The Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the Ernakulam District Collector to submit an action taken report against local bodies responsible for the pollution of Konothupuzha river under the provisions of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.
The directive was issued by the Bench comprising Justice K. Ramakrishnan and expert member Saibal Dasgupta in a case related to the indiscriminate pollution of the river, which passes through Thripunitura municipality, and Chottanikkara, Udayamperoor, Mulanthuruthy and Amballoor grama panchayats, covering a distance of nearly 17 km before joining the Vembanad lake at Poothotta.
The District Collector is the chairman of a committee constituted by the government to formulate an action plan to restore the original condition of the Konothupuzha. The tribunal considered a report filed by the State Level Monitoring Committee (SLMC) on solid waste management, which found that the lack of proper waste management systems in the local bodies had resulted in the pollution of the river.
The Bench asked the State Pollution Control Board to impose environmental compensation on those responsible for the pollution of the river based on the suggestions included in the report filed by SLMC chairman A.V. Ramakrishna Pillai. The board has to file an independent report on the steps taken against the erring local bodies under the provisions of Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.
The Irrigation Department has been directed to implement the suggestions given by the monitoring committee. The tribunal told the civic body authorities to submit the status of the action taken to check pollution of the river.
The SLMC report had recommended 100% source-level treatment of solid waste in all local bodies to check the dumping of such waste into the river. Major commercial establishments have been advised to set up their own plastic shredding units. The civic bodies should install CCTV facility at the major points of waste disposal. The Irrigation Department had to clean the river and its streams on a periodical basis to ensure free flow of water, it said.
The reports demanded by the tribunal have to be filed by October 28.