Srinagar, Aug 14 (GNS): Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Friday asked authorities to ensure labourers are present when it makes a visit to see if garbage dumped along the banks of Wullar Lake near Sopore was covered by soil.
A bench of Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Puneet Gupta passed the orders after advocate Shafaqat Nazir, counsel for the Central Auqaf Committee Tarzoo-Dharnambal, an amalgam of eight Auqaf Committees of the area, submits that in view of the nature of controversy, a court visit was urgently necessary. He submited that after passing of the last order by the court, the authorities have “illegally started filling-up of the garbage site and covered the same with soil.”
“In view of the above, the respondents shall ensure that the labour is available during the court visit in case digging is necessary to verify the correctness of the submissions,” the court said, as per GNS.
Central Auqaf Committee Tarzoo-Dharnambal has filed the PIL seeking a slew of directions to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the J&K government.
It seeks a direction to the Municipal Council Sopore to stop dumping of municipal solid waste on the ramsar wetland site situated at Dharnambal-Ningli Tarzoo in Sopore which falls within the delineated periphery pillars of the Wular Conservation and Management Authority (WUCMA) and also within the limits of Hygam-Ningli-Tarzoo Tourism Development Authority.
The petitioner also seeks a direction to Municipal Council to immediately remove the garbage “illegally dumped” on the spot.
The PIL urges for developing the area in planned manner given its huge tourism potential while taking care of the environmental sensitivities.
The petitioners also prays that a place be identified and subsequently developed in terms of Solid Waste Management Rules for dumping of municipal waste away from the residential and environmentally sensitivity areas. (GNS)