Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal
Bhopal Municipal Corporation supplies potable water to 42 colonies in the vicinity of Union Carbide premises, National Green Tribunal (NGT) was told by the Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board (MPPCB) on January 24, 2024.
MPPCB also monitors piped water as per directions by the Supreme Court (SC) monitoring committee, it added. Water samples were collected by SC panel members July 20-22, 2022.
The panel members examined the tap water samples and found they met the “acceptable limits of drinking water standard IS 10500:2012 except for colour and turbidity at some localities.”
However, “parameters such as colour, turbidity, total dissolved solids, chlorides, alkalinity, hardness, fluoride, calcium and magnesium exceeded the acceptable limits of drinking water standard IS 10500:2012 in some borewell / tubewell samples.”
The Central Groundwater Board (CGWB) has informed MPPCB that the chemical analysis and testing of the water in the area is under process and the report will be soon submitted, stated the reply filed in compliance with the December 22, 2023 order by NGT.
NGT constituted a joint committee to look into allegations of pollution caused by loading, unloading and transportation of coal in the Adani Krishnapatnam port, Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh.
The committee was directed to visit the site, look into the applicant’s grievances, verify the factual position and take appropriate remedial action. A factual and action-taken report should be submitted before the southern zone bench of NGT, said the January 22 order.
An application in NGT alleged port management has not initiated any mitigation measures to combat the issue. The fine coal dust layers the villages and the trees. Even after 30 years, the port management is still relying on private water suppliers for its day-to-day activities, it alleged.
The private water suppliers are illegally tapping the groundwater at various places in and around the port, the applicant further claimed.
The NGT on January 23, 2024 directed notices be issued to the authorities over ununauthorised construction of roads over lake buffer zone near Pattandur Agrahara lake, Mahadevpura, Karnataka.
The NGT directed notices be issued to the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board; Revenue Department, Bengaluru East; Bangalore Development Authority and State Wetland Development Authority. The principal bench of NGT directed the matter to be listed before the Southern Zonal Bench on March 6, 2024.
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