HC hears PIL on dumping of waste from floating huts & restaurant in Bhagirathi

Wednesday, 27 December 2023 | PNS | NAINITAL

The Uttarakhand High Court heard a public interest litigation against meat being served in floating huts and floating restaurants along with raw sewage from these being dumped in the holy Bhagirathi river in Tehri district. The division bench of acting chief justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari and justice Vivek Bharti Sharma directed the petitioner to make the State pollution control board and restaurants responsible for dumping the waste, parties in the case. The matter will be taken up for hearing next on December 28.

According to the case details, Swargashram resident Navin Singh Rana had filed the public interest litigation stating that in order to promote tourism, the State government had permitted the operation of floating huts and floating restaurants on the holy Bhagirathi river in Tehri district. However, the business operators are misusing the permission granted by the government. The petitioner has contended that various restaurants cook non-vegetarian food and dump the waste in the sacred river. The raw sewage from the floating huts is also dumped into the river. Rana has stated that those provided licenses by the State government in order to encourage tourism in the region are hurting the religious sentiments of crores of followers of Sanatan Dharma. While followers of Sanatan Dharma pray to the Ganga and remove their footwear before bathing in the river, the floating huts and restaurants are dumping garbage in the river.

The petitioner had written a letter to the district magistrate, chief secretary and the Central government seeking that such actions should be stopped. However, no action was taken on this issue, following which the petitioner had to file a public interest litigation in the High Court.