'Citizens, and not BMC, should clean polluted lake'

Shifting the onus of environmental protection on citizens, the Bombay High Court on Thursday said residents along with NGOs and Mohalla committees should undertake the cleaning up of the Bhandup's Shivaji Talao as community service.

Yashwant Gavand, a resident of Bhandup since 45 years, had filed a PIL before the HC seeking directions to the BMC to desilt the polluted lake, which he said is bound to be further polluted after immersions of Ganesh idols. Dismissing the PIL, Justice JN Patel and Justice Amjad Sayed refused to intervene in the matter saying such cases are a 'never-ending story' of litigation.

"Any amount of orders cannot solve this problem unless residents themselves decide to prevent the pollution. We see no reason why residents should not come together and take it up as community service," Justice Patel said.

Gavand, had urged the court that the BMC should be directed to remove encroachers from around the lake, desilt and maintain it. "The lake is highly polluted with a public toilet and a BMC hospital next to it. About 3000 immersions are expected after Ganesh Chaturthi which will only aggravate the situation," Gavand said.

The court, however, expected that the residents of the area will play their part in not polluting the lake further. "We expect that with the ensuing Ganpati festival, residents will be sensitised and not immerse idols in the lake," the judges said.

The court was of the opinion that public money cannot be spent on such things repeatedly. The BMC can continue to remove illegal encroachers but even residents should collectively put up a fight against such encroachers and prevent them from occupying any premises in their area.

"As soon as you spot illegal encroachers, the residents must take steps to wrap them up and throw them out," Justice Patel said.