Gauhati HC poser to Centre, state on two Deepor Beel pleas

GUWAHATI: The Gauhati HC has directed the Centre and the state government to respond to the PIL where it has been alleged that the ongoing project of municipal waste dumping near the Deepor Beel, the only Ramsar site, violated the Solid Waste Management Rules and Wetland (Conservation and Management) Act, 2016, and the purported construction of the second railway track through the boundary of the beel is being carried out without any adherence to a comprehensive wildlife management plan.
The court of Chief Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice Suman Shyam, while hearing the PIL filed by one Pramod Kalita and two others on Thursday, granted four weeks to the Centre as well as the state government on prayer to respond to the petition “involving issues of great importance pertaining to preservation of Deepor Beel”.
The counsel for the petitioners, advocate DK Das, said the petitioners have sought a direction from the court to the authorities to implement the order of the court passed in December last year and a separate petition filed in 2017 for protection of the lake.
The court in the order passed in December last year directed the state government to adhere to the statements made in the affidavits for protection of the Ramsar site.