The Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) has issued a legal notice to the Vadodara Municipal Corporation over the illegal dumping of construction and demolition waste in the city.
The notice issued by the legal officer of the GPCB has sought an explanation from the municipal body about the violation of the Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules.
The GPCB had earlier taken cognizance of a complaint by a group of citizens of a complaint by citizens alleging civic body's inaction on the issue of illegal dumping of construction waste in ravines, river outlets and even small wetlands across the city. It had alleged that this had the potential to choke the outlets for excess removal of water in case of rain and flood the city.
The city had, this monsoon, seen unprecedented waterlogging and several thousands had to be moved to safer places after it received 20 inches of rainfall in a short span of time.
The concerned citizens had, at that time, said that ravines close to the Vishwamitri river are being reclaimed and construction debris are being dumped; this, in turn, will wreak havoc in case of heavy rains.
Citizens heard at last
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| The GPCB had taken cognizance of a complaint by citizens alleging civic body’s inaction on the issue of illegal dumping in ravines, river outlets |
| The citizens had alleged that such activities had potential to choke the outlets for excess removal of water in case of rain and flood the city |
Interestingly, the National River Conservation Directorate had also written to the forest department to protect the ravines and prevent illegal dumping of waste. It had also asked for an action taken a report from the department.
The GPCB has threatened action against the VMC if it fails to respond to its notice within a fortnight. It should be noted that the VMC at present functions sans a full-time commissioner. The district collector is the commissioner in-charge as of now.
NM Tabhani, member secretary GPCB did not respond to calls or messages from DNA. In-charge Vadodara Municipal Commissioner Shalini Agrawal was in a meeting when contacted. A message to her went unreplied at the time of going to print.
Rohit Prajapati, who was among the concerned citizens who wrote to several officials warning of the illegal dumping of construction waste said that the municipal body is to blame for the flood that the city witnessed.
"Pieces of land are being reclaimed by filling up wetlands, outlets of rivers and ravines with waste in them. The civic body despite several complaints has overlooked the issue. A 'smart city' like Vadodara it ended up doing something terribly stupid and got itself waterlogged," said Prajapati.
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