Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on December 22, 2023 sent a notice to the district magistrate, Rourkela, Odisha and commissioner for Rourkela Municipal Corporation over a cholera outbreak in the Odisha city through December.
A notice was also issued to the member secretary, Odisha State Pollution Control Board; secretary, Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change and member secretary, Central Pollution Control Board. All the respondents were directed to file their response before the Eastern Zone Bench, Kolkata at least a week before the next date of hearing, January 25, 2024.
The NGT registered an original application suo motu on the basis of a news article, 6 dead, 1000 infected in suspected cholera outbreak in Rourkela, in the newspaper The Hindu on December 21, 2023. There have been 1,000 cases of infection and eight deaths due to cholera through December 2023 in Rourkela, Odisha, the article said.
Water contamination is suspected to be the cause of the disease, which has resulted in severe health complications among those affected. Six locations in Rourkela have been identified as diarrhoea infection hotspots. The infection is believed to have spread due to a break in water supply pipes, the article stated.
The NGT on December 22, 2023 directed the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) to file an affidavit detailing the time schedule for completing the tapping of 11 drains and the Mehrauli drain, as well as the completion and operation of the expanded Okhla sewage treatment plant (STP). The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has been directed to regularly desilt the open and covered parts of the Kushak drain.
The MCD had pointed out that since four concrete chambers have been created in the Kushak drain, therefore, cleaning it is difficult.
In its previous order, the tribunal directed the MCD to produce the project report on the basis of which the four channels in the drain were built, as well as to specify the object and purpose of the four channels’ construction.
While the project report on the construction was filed, the counsel for MCD could not explain to the court why the four channels were constructed in the drain.
The NGT called for a fresh report from the MCD and the DJB, along with an affidavit of the CEO, Delhi Jal Board, within a period of two weeks.
The tribunal was hearing a complaint about a foul odour coming from a drain behind houses in Greater Kailash, Delhi. The Kushak drain, which is part of the Barapullah drain, is open behind these houses. The Barapullah storm water drain outfalls into the river Yamuna.
The transportation of coal and fly ash in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh, is causing dust pollution, according to a complaint filed with the NGT. The general public uses the same roads. The dry ash is transported in bulkers, whereas the wet ash is transported in trucks with full cover. Tractors are also used to transport wet ash, it claimed.
However, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) guidelines, 2013 stipulate currently no such mechanically designed covered trucks are in use to transport the ash from the ash dyke, according to the Joint Committee report filed December 19, 2023.
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