City tabelas get marching orders

State government pleader Vishal Phal told the Bombay High Court on Thursday that all tabelas will be relocated outside the city by January 31. The government proposes to do this in accordance with a notification issued in July 2006.

A PIL filed by Janhit Manch after the July 26, 2005 deluge had sought shifting the tabelas out of city limits as the lack of appropriate waste disposal and dung management facilities resulted in large-scale pollution.

The petition suggested relocating the tabelas on a vast stretch of government land in Palghar. The state government is expected to explain the viability of the suggestion in its affidavit.

A division bench of acting Chief Justice HL Gokhale and Justice VM Kanade has already asked the state government to submit an affidavit by February 24 stating the measures it proposes to take for relocating 1,700 tabelas in the city which shelter over 51,000 cattle.

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) had conducted a survey of tabelas in the city and submitted a report in October 2006 confirming that there was no effective management of the waste generated in tabelas.

On Wednesday, when there was no reply from the State regarding the action taken, acting Chief Justice HL Gokhale had remarked, “This is complete apathy to civil requirements.”

A ‘competent officer’ of the State was then summoned by the court. The Chief Operation Officer of Aarey Milk Colony which houses 300 of the 1,700 tabelas in the city and the Cattle Controller of the State appeared before the court on Thursday.