By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 12 Apr: The Uttarakhand High Court, today issued notices to the Chief Secretary, State Department of Environment, Mussoorie Nagar Palika Parishad, Mussoorie-Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA), Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan, Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board and Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, on a petition claiming blatant violation of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Solid Waste Management Rules 2016, Plastic Waste Rules, Biomedical Waste Rules, Hazardous Waste Rules and E-waste Rules in Mussoorie. The petition has been filed by Akash Vashishtha.
The High Court has directed the aforesaid agencies to file their replies before the Court within 3 weeks.
The court further directed these agencies to look into all the claims made in the petition and has also stressed that all requisite and corrective steps be taken in case merit is found in the claims without any further orders of the Court.
The petition also blamed the Mussoorie Nagar Palika Parishad of failing to discharge its constitutional obligations under Article 243W as well as under Section 7 of the Uttar Pradesh Municipalities Act (as amended and enforced in Uttarakhand), besides non-compliance of Doon Valley Notification 1989.
The Petitioner, Akash Vashishtha, apprised the court that more than 60 percent of the hotels and resorts in Mussoorie are operating without mandatory Consent to Operate under Section 25 of the Water Act from PCB. The petitioner further claimed in his petition that over 90 percent of the hoteliers had no consent at all.
Vashishtha further claimed before the Division Bench, headed by Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi that, since 2010, not a single sapling has been planted, not a single park, not a single green belt developed by the Nagar Palika in Mussoorie despite the fact that Mussoorie receives huge volumes of tourists and has undergone massive land degradation.
The petition further states, “Only about 2.2MLD of the sewage/wastewater out of 6.02 MLD is being treated and the rest is being discharged into open, roads and drains without any treatment in contravention of Section25 of the Water Act. The town is battling severe water scarcity due to dried springs and other water resources.” The petition has been filed through Advocate Rakshit Joshi.