The two-judge bench said that the concerned officer will be liable to prosecution under Section 430 Cr.P.C. if untreated sewerage or trade effluent is found in the river after filing the affidavit.
Vrindavan, 2021-09-07 (Vrindavan Today News): In matters pertaining to riverfront development in Vrindavan, the Allahabad High Court has, after hearing the writ petition, adjourned the case to seek an affidavit from the highest officer of the department or body concerned, stating that sewerage and trade effluent will not be drained without treatment into the river Yamuna. The government counsel was demanding to vacate the stay order given by the court to lay the sewer pipeline in front of the Vrindavan Ghats.
The two-judge bench led by Acting Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Anil Kumar Ojha added that if after filing of affidavit, untreated water is found in the river, the deponent will be held responsible and liable to prosecution by the process under Section 430 Cr.P.C.
Directing the concerned body /officer to exercise caution in this regard, the Court said that while permitting the work of pipe, untreated sewerage and trade effluent should not discharged in the river. Further, it observed that even after putting STPs and ETPs, untreated water is being drained because either the capacity of these plants are less than the water drained, or the STP/ETPs are not maintained properly so as to treat the entire volume of water coming in. The Court also warned the concerned officer against any foul practices.
It should be noted that an interceptor pipeline parallel to the Yamuna river carrying sewage was laid along the ghats on the Yamuna riverbed. The interceptor pipeline was planned to run parallel to the proposed renovated ghats of the Yamuna. The huge pipe line was laid to facilitate the Kosi Nullah, which comes from the town of Kosi, 35 kilometers upstream and falls in Yamuna near the Madan Mohan Temple. The River activists from Vrindavan challenged the Riverfront development project in the Allahabad Highcourt and National Green Tribunal. In its petition the activists questioned the laying of the sewage pipeline on the riverbed in front of the iconic Keshi Ghat. The activists said that it was practical and more sensible if the sewer of the Kosi Nullah was treated in upstream at Sunrakh or any other village, by setting up an STP. The treated water could have been utilized in the fields.
The Allahabad High Court had stayed the laying the sewage pipe line on 20th October, 2016.
