Expressing "shock" at the non- compliance of its year-old order to seal handpumps releasing contaminated drinking water in western UP, the National Green Tribunal today castigated the state authorities for dishing out "a bundle of lies" and warned that their officials may be sent to jail.
"It's a bundle of lies. Some of your officers (UP Jal Nigam and UP Pollution Control Board) will certainly go to jail. You are such bogus workers. It shocks us that you don't have time to provide water to people," NGT chairperson Swatanter Kumar said.
The tribunal's observation came when the counsel for UP Jal Nigam sought time to complete the process of dismantling the handpumps in six western districts of the state, as directed by it earlier, and said they have been supplying potable water to villagers through tankers and pipelines.
During the hearing, the tribunal asked the authorities why they had not yet dismantled the handpumps.
To this, the Nigam's counsel said a committee has been formed and they were in the process of dismantling the handpumps, but claimed that villagers were not allowing them to do so.
"It is because you have not given them substitute source of water," the bench countered.
The green panel was hearing a petition filed by NGO Doaba Paryavaran Samiti head C V Singh, a retired scientist of Haryana Pollution Control Board, who alleged that due to consumption of contaminated ground water over 50 villagers had died in western Uttar Pradesh of cancer.
Meanwhile, advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal, appearing for petitioner, said till date, the families and children in these villages were drinking contaminated water.
The tribunal also asked Bansal to send his client to the villages where he should stay for two-three days and observe the situation and provide data on issues like how many tankers come, on the next date of hearing on December 5.
The UP Jal Nigam had earlier faced the NGT's ire for its failure to comply with a November 2015 order directing it to seal all handpumps releasing contaminated ground water immediately.
NGT had constituted a panel of officials from the Central
Pollution Control Board (CPCB), UP Pollution Control Board (UPPCB), UP government and UP Jal Nigam to submit a study with analysis report and data on the issue of contaminated ground water in the western UP districts.
It was alleged by the petitioner that ground water in Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Meerut, Baghpat and Ghaziabad districts was polluted due to effluents being released underground due to reverse boring by industries.
The counsel had said that children were being born with deformity and the people suffering from cancer due to high chemical contents found in the ground water released from hand pumps in these villages.
The bench had directed the state government and its officials to provide potable drinking water to the villagers of the six districts through vehicles having GPS system.
It had also said the committee was at liberty to engage experts to analyse the impact of use of fertilisers, insecticides and pesticide on contamination of ground water.
The petitioner had said that there were several rivers like Hindon, Kali and Krishna passing through the villages of western Uttar Pradesh. "Due to the effluents being discharged into the rivers by the industries located in Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat and Meerut, the groundwater has become toxic and poisonous," the plea had said.
It was stated by the petitioner that Gangnoli village of district Baghpat had 37 cancer patients, while 71 had died due to cancer and the hand pumps there released contaminated water which had high quantity of lead, arsenic and sulphur.
