New Delhi, 28 Feb: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has warned it will order personal appearance of Bihar chief secretary if the state fails to submit within six weeks information it has sought on Ganga water pollution.
The NGT was hearing a matter related to prevention and control of pollution in the Ganga in Bihar. The green tribunal had last year taken up the issue of pollution of the Ganga and its tributaries in five states. The Ganga flows through Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal before merging into the Bay of Bengal.
A bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava, while noting Bihar’s report dated February 17 this year, said 20 out of the state’s 38 districts had submitted their reports with incomplete and partially wrong information.
The bench, also comprising judicial member Justice Sudhir Agarwal and expert member A Senthil Vel, noted the submission of the state’s counsel, who said the required information will be submitted by the district magistrates, who are the heads of District Ganga Protection Committees, within six weeks.
In an order passed on February 19, the tribunal said, “We make it clear that if the complete requisite information is not furnished before the tribunal, we may be required to direct personal appearance of the Chief Secretary.” The matter has been posted on May 1 for considering the state’s report. (PTI)