Submit timeline for Pavana River conservation work: NGT tells CPCB

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to draw up a timeframe and submit a deadline for finishing the Pavana river conservation work. The directive comes after the recent hearings in which the CPCB submitted an action plan prepared in 2019 under the national river rejuvenation mission.
The plan includes 13 measures such as groundwater monitoring, stopping bathing on river water and open defecation at the bank of the river, prevention of agricultural run-off to the river and tree Plantation in the catchment areas and banks of the river.
The principal bench of NGT on April 10 registered a Suo Motu case based on the news report published in Hindustan Times. The news titled ‘Pavana River enters ‘Priority 1’ category due to increase in pollution’ was published on February 26. The case was later transferred to the western zonal bench of NGT, and the bench asked CPCB, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), district collector, Pune and the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PMC and PCMC) to submit their response on said case.
In the latest hearing held on August 27, while the other parties sought more time to submit their responses, the CPCB filed its response on the action taken by the authority. The CPCB stated that a five-member committee was established under the guidance of the principal secretary to prepare action plans and monitor their implementation.
The CPCB further mentioned that the State government also constituted a district-level special task force comprising of the district collector, district superintendent of police, regional officer MPCB and district judge of the district concerned in the Pavana River case. It also mentioned that the government of Maharashtra has prepared an action plan for the Pavana River along with the timelines in March 2019.
Considering this response from the CPCB, the tribunal bench comprising Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh, judicial member and Vijay Kulkarni, the expert member in its order said, “It appears that there is an action plan put in place to deal with the problem of pollution happening in river Pavana with timelines. But those timelines have not been given in the aforesaid reply. Therefore, we direct that an additional affidavit along with an action plan and timelines shall be filed by CPCB within two weeks.”