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Bombay HC: Cleaning coastline not just about beaches, future generations should be protected

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Bombay HC: Cleaning coastline not just about beaches, future generations should be protected

The Bombay Excessive Courtroom Friday mentioned cleansing the shoreline of Maharashtra was not nearly cleansing the seashores however measures had been required to be taken to make sure non-disposable waste is just not dumped into the ocean. This, the court docket mentioned, was to guard the pursuits of future generations.

On Friday, Advocate Basic Ashutosh Kumbhakoni submitted a notice in response to a suo motu PIL by the hight court docket on the seashore cleansing measures undertaken in Mumbai. The state mentioned Mumbai has seven seashores, of which six had been cleaned each day by utilizing acceptable equipment in addition to manually. The notice added that the BMC had just lately bought seashore cleansing machines that function with the newest expertise and that waste is shipped to dumping grounds after segregation. “A complete 62793 Metric Tonnes (MT) of plastic waste was generated within the yr 2020-21 within the BMC space, out of which 8409 MT was despatched for recycling,” the notice said.

On June 30, a division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish S Kulkarni had expressed issues over rubbish dumped within the sea, inflicting “hazard to marine life” and indicated it could provoke a suo motu Public Curiosity Litigation (PIL) to handle the problem.

The HC had then mentioned that over the previous few days, particularly after cyclone Tauktae, numerous newspaper stories indicated that the Maharashtra shoreline “together with seashores in Mumbai and Marine drive” had been “filled with filth of rubbish left behind by the ocean”, and that these stories painted “a really sorry image with regard to the cleansing of the coast”.

The bench additionally mentioned the explanation why it wished to take care of the problem in an pressing method was that the ‘major problem’ was confronted in the course of the ongoing monsoon and the identical wanted to be resolved.

It then sought responses from Further Solicitor Basic Anil Singh, representing the Centre, and Advocate Basic Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, for the state, together with counsel for Brihanmumbai Municipal Company (BMC).

Kumbhakoni additional submitted Friday that the BMC has put in eight main Sewage Remedy Crops (STPs) the place sewage is handled earlier than it’s discharged into the ocean. “At these vegetation, by the use of filtration and different processes, plastic and different strong waste is segregated and is thus prevented from polluting the ocean,” the notice mentioned.

The state authorities added that because the Nationwide Inexperienced Tribunal (NGT) has allowed discharge of sewage into the ocean solely after treating it, the Maharashtra Air pollution Management Board (MPCB) has issued instructions to BMC together with putting in mechanical gates and display screen to arrest rubbish being discharged into the ocean and in addition to make sure the mangrove space is a plastic free zone.

The federal government’s notice additionally mentioned acceptable legal guidelines offering penal motion have been framed to forestall air pollution which takes place as slum dwellers residing close to river, nullah and creek are disposing massive portions of waste straight into the river or storm-water drains.

After perusing the submissions and the notice, the bench orally noticed, “It’s not solely about seashore cleansing however measures are essential to take measures past that. From the place does all the fabric get into the ocean? How can or not it’s prevented? it goes deeper. You may have slums and encroachments on banks from the place untreated rubbish often goes to rivers or sea.”

Justice Kulkarni referred to air pollution in Mithi river and mentioned, “Every part is dumped (into the waters). What comes out is just a fraction. What’s there within the stomach of the ocean, we have no idea. We’re not specializing in simply seashore cleansing. It’s a bigger challenge. Our future era ought to be protected.”

The Courtroom requested the counsels for state and Centre to take directions on its queries and file its response subsequent week.

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