Tuesday, 19 July 2022 | PNS | Nainital
The Uttarakhand high court has expressed concern at choked sewers and their dirty water ending in the Naini lake in Nainital city. Taking cognisance of the issue and taking it up as a public interest litigation, the division bench of chief justice Vipin Sanghi and justice RC Khulbe has directed the Nainital district magistrate and Jal Sansthan to present a progress report in the court by Wednesday. The HC has also directed the Jal Sansthan to check and maintain the sewer lines on a daily basis. It also directed that a work register should be maintained to ascertain the tasks undertaken by the nine persons employed by the Jal Sansthan for maintenance of the sewer lines in the city.
Earlier, when the matter came up for hearing in the court, the division bench directed the Jal Sansthan executive engineer to conduct a site inspection of the sewer lines and submit a report to the court by 2 PM. The executive informed the court in the afternoon that the spots where the sewer lines are getting choked are being repaired. In some places, encroachments have been made above the sewer lines and people have dumped waste in the nullas which is also resulting in the choking of sewers. The executive engineer also informed that the main reason for the sewer lines getting choked is that they are 50 to 80 years old, adding that it is necessary to repair them. The chambers of the sewer lines are also damaged, he said. The chief standing counsel CS Rawat informed the court that work on a sewage treatment plant is underway at Rusi. Budget for repairing the sewer lines has also been released, he added.
It is pertinent to mention here that sewer lines in various parts of Nainital city have been choked for some days now. As a result of this, the dirty water is directly reaching the Naini lake and contaminating it. The sewer lines are choked in Pant Sadan, near Cheena Baba, Royal Hotel compound, Mall Road and other localities of the city due to which the contaminated water is ending in the Naini lake. Expressing concern at the situation, the HC took cognisance and took up the matter in the form of a PIL. It is also stated in the PIL the dirty water is contaminating the lake which is affecting both humans and aquatic life.
