Panel to report on sewage release into Arafath lake

Chennai

The bench comprising Justice K Ramakrishnan and Saibal Dasgupta took action following a media report alleging that untreated sewage from Avadi Municipality was being discharged into the lake by tanker lorries and that no action was taken despite repeated complaints to the officials.

Noting that this was not the first time that the tribunal has taken suo motu proceedings on such issues, the bench said the approach of various departments in protecting waterbodies was not as expected muc to its dissatisfaction.

“Whenever directions have been given, some action is being taken. There is no plan of action to maintain the waterbodies free from encroachment and pollution as a long-term measure, though this Tribunal had several times insisted to prepare long-term and short-term action plans for protecting them,” the bench said.

Regarding the tanker lorries discharging the sewage water, the bench said, “The authorities are expected to maintain a register or digital database showing the persons who have been permitted to carry out this work so that it will be easy for them to track by providing GPS to such vehicles.”

To ascertain the real state of affairs, the bench appointed a joint committee comprising officials from various departments to inspect the area and submit a factual and action taken report.

Apart from tracing the persons responsible for such illegal activities and suggest the course of action to be taken including initiation of a prosecution, the committee should also submit an action plan to remedy this situation, it said.

The committee also directed the committee to assess the environmental compensation to be imposed on the violators and submit the report within two months.