HC notice to MIA, Wadi civic body in Ambazari fish dying PIL

Nagpur: The Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Wednesday added MIDC Industries Association (MIA) and Wadi Municipal Council (WMC) as respondents in the suo motu PIL based on a TOI report about scores of fishes in Ambazari Lake dying due to pollution.

A division bench comprising justices Ravi Deshpande and Shreeram Modak issued notices to both new respondents, asking them to reply before end of summer vacation in June.

In follow up reports regarding dead fishes, TOI had exposed failure of authorities to treat and dispose 1.5 MLD waste generated by the industries in Hingna MIDC in the absence of common effluent treatment plant (CETP). NMC and social activists claimed most of this waste was released into the lake, leading to alarming increase in pollution levels that killed the fishes.

TOI also reported how the highly polluted water from the lake was being used for drinking by over 7,000 families at Ordnance Factory Ambazari, WMC and Dawlamethi Gram Panchayat. The untreated sewage from Wadi too was being released into the lake, thus adding to pollution.

TOI has been following this issue since 2014 and had reported that fishes die almost every summer, but it was also reported in winters. The corporation allows the lake water to be used for drinking and non-drinking purposes by MIDC Hingna, CRPF Colony and Ambazari Swimming Pool.

In the last hearing, on April 23, the HC took suo motu cognisance of TOI report titled ‘Scores of fish found dead at Ambazari as untreated sewage continues to flow into the lake’ and treated it as PIL. The State Urban Development Department (UDD), Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT), Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) were made respondents in the PIL.

“The problem of water pollution arising out of disposal of untreated sewage and industrial waste in Ambazari lake is the issue. Such disposal is destroying the flora and fauna existing therein. In the (TOI) news, the problem of disturbing the environment surrounding the lake is also highlighted,” the judges had tersely noted.