Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding pollution of Shillong rivers, Meghalaya, 28/04/2022
Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In re: News Item Published in The Shillong Times Dated: 23.02.2022 titled “Poison flowing in Shillong’s rivers: Water quality index” dated 28/04/2022.
The matter has been put up in view of a captioned media report to the effect that the untreated sewage is directly being dumped into river Umshyrpi near Shillong Law College and river Wah Umkhrah at Demthring. Effluents are also discharged in river Lukha. On inspection, the State PCB found the river water to have turned blue and also found river Lunar to be highly acidic. There are cement factories which are also a source of pollution, apart from power plants, breweries and ferro-alloy companies.
The NGT directed a joint committee of the CPCB and the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board to look into the alleged violations and take further action in accordance with law. The state PCB would be the nodal agency for compliance.