The Hindu 12.11.2010
‘Civic bodies must set up waste treatment plants’
Staff Reporter
BANGALORE: All municipal bodies are mandated by the law to set up
sewage and waste treatment plants and there cannot be any compromise on
the issue, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) told the
Karnataka High Court on Thursday.
The court was hearing a petition by the Challekere Municipality
challenging the registration of a private complaint before a
jurisdictional magistrate court against the then Commissioner and then
municipal chief by the KSPCB.
The civic agency said it could not set up waste treatment plants as
it had no money. Moreover, the KSPCB had taken a unilateral decision in
registering a criminal case against its officials. It had urged the
court to stay the proceedings and also quash the private complaint.
Opposing the petition, KSPCB advocate Gangadhar Sangolli submitted
that all municipalities are required under the Air and Water Act to set
up treatment plants. The reason that such plants cannot be set up due to
lack of finance cannot be accepted, he said.
He said no effluent or waste could be directly discharged into water
bodies and into open areas. All wastes have to be treated and the board
is tasked with the responsibility of ensuing that the pollution laws are
obeyed.