Dumping waste in Govardhan: NGT warns of `coercive action`

New Delhi: Irked over non-compliance of its orders, the National Green Tribunal Monday warned of "coercive action" against the authorities for throwing municipal solid waste on roads in the pilgrimage town of Govardhan in Mathura.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar directed the Deputy Commissioner of Mathura, Regional Engineer and Environmental Engineer of Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) and Chief Engineer of PWD to carry out personal inspection at the site. "We make it clear that if we find that our directions are not being complied with, we will be compelled to take coercive action against the respective authorities," the bench said. "We direct the Deputy Commissioner of District Mathura, Regional Engineer and Environmental Engineer of UPPCB, the Chief Engineer of PWD and the Executive Officer of Nagar Panchayat to conduct a personal inspection and submit compliance report...," it said. The matter is now fixed for hearing on September 2. The tribunal had last year restrained the Uttar Pradesh government from cutting trees in the holy town of Govardhan. The tribunal`s order came after Mathura-based organisation Giriraj Parikrama Sanrakshan Sansthan filed photographs showing that municipal solid waste is being thrown on the roads as well on the sites of Govardhan Parvat. The petition had sought a ban on cutting of trees in 3.9 hectare reserved forest land in Govardhan for widening of a mud road at the pilgrimage site. The petition filed by the organisation had raised the issue of civic authorities discharging sewage and municipal waste into the ponds and other water bodies in Govardhan leading to water pollution. It alleged that public sanitation in Govardhan is inadequate with trash collecting at temples and `kunds` due to the large number of pilgrims and absence of a scientific system of garbage collection and disposal. The petition had also sought directions to the authorities to "take immediate action for removal of encroachments and encroaches from the parikrama marg, public land, the reserved forest land, the kunds and water bodies in Govardhan".