Gujarat Pollution Control Board seeks Vishwamitri rejuvenation plan in 15 days

VADODARA: Reminding the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) that the issue of rejuvenation of the river has been discussed at length by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) has asked it to submit Vishwamitri rejuvenation action plan within a fortnight.
Sources said that through a missive to VMC's executive engineer of futuristic planning cell, the state pollution watch dog has sought status of the time-bound action plan for restoration of Vishwamitri river.
"The issue of rejuvenation of the pollution of river stretches has been exhaustively considered by the tribunal (NGT). The tribunal directed constitution of a river rejuvenation committee in each state/ union territory to prepare and executive an action plan for restoration of each of such polluted stretches to give effect to the rule of law in a time bound manner," GPCB's letter states.
The action plan have been prepared and approved by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and their execution is to be overseen by chief secretary in the state and central monitoring committee headed by the secretary, ministry of Jalshakati at the national level, the letter states.
"In context with above subject and reference you were requested to submit progress report in compliance of the order by NGT regarding Vishwamitri river action plan within 15 days but same is not received by this office till now. So, you are again requested to submit within 15 days," the letter further states.
It is worth mentioning here that in May last year, the NGT had ordered to map and demarcate the entire flood plain zone of Vishwamitri river that passes from the heart of Vadodara.
The tribunal had also ordered to remove unauthorized, illegal structures and maintain and restore river's integrity.
NGT's principal bench headed by chairperson justice (retired) Adarsh Kumar Goel had noted that Vishwamitri river is one of 351 polluted river stretches identified by CPCB.
The tribunal had ordered that the action should be completed within three months.
The tribunal had issued the order based on a plea moved by a group of concerned citizens led by environment activist Rohit Prajapati.