SC dismisses Karnataka plea to vacate stay on use of secondary treated water
New Delhi, Mar 11: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea by Karnataka government seeking vacation of stay on the proposal to pump secondary treated water from its sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Bengaluru into irrigation tanks in Kolar district for recharging the groundwater table.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi expressed its displeasure that the state government has not mentioned requisite details in its application seeking vacation of the apex court's stay order of January 7 this year.
"Are you playing around with the court? There are no details in your application. It is a bland application," the bench, which also comprised justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, said.
"The application for vacating the stay order dated January 7, 2019 does not mention adequate material and details, on the basis of which the court can come to the conclusion that the order dated January 7 requires reconsideration," the bench said and noted that the state government has not even mentioned the correct date of the stay order in its application.
The apex court, however, granted liberty to the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board and the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board to file appropriate applications for vacating the interim order.
On January 7, the top court had stayed the Karnataka High Court order by which the state was allowed to pump secondary treated water from Banglore-based STPs to the minor irrigation tanks situated in Kolar District for recharging ground water table after taking note of a report which claimed that the water was contaminated.
It had also issued notices to the state and other government bodies including Department of Minor Irrigation, Central Ground Water Board and Karnataka State Pollution Control Board on the plea filed by R Anjaneya Reddy, a resident of Chikkaballapura in Karnataka.
Reddy has challenged the September 28, 2018 high court order by which an earlier direction was modified and the state government and its agencies were allowed to pump the secondary treated water from the STPs of Bangalore City to the minor irrigation tanks situated in Kolar district for recharging the groundwater table under the project.
The plea has alleged that earlier the high court on July 24 last year had restrained the government from restarting the pumping of the secondary treated water.
Reddy, in his plea, has said that he had submitted before the high court a report of the Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore on the quality of treated water meant for recharging the groundwater table.
It has sought a stay on the high court order and a direction to the state government to stop pumping secondary treated water from its STPs into the Minor Irrigation Tanks of Kolar District.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
MP boat tragedy: Death toll rises to 10 with recovery of one more body; 3 tourists still missing
Jabalpur (PTI): The body of a child was retrieved on Saturday evening from Bargi Dam in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy that took place two days ago to ten, while search continued for three missing tourists.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening with some of the survivors alleging negligence and safety lapses such as life jackets not being distributed in time.
The body recovered on Saturday evening was possibly that of six-year-old Viraj Soni, said Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra.
"The identity will be confirmed after family members identify the body," he told PTI.
Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory at Khamaria, his five-year-old son Tamil, and another child Mayuram (5) who had come from southern India were still missing.
Authorities have arranged equipment to search deep waters of the dam and are getting a generator to facilitate diving operations, Mishra added.
Divers and disaster response teams have expanded the search radius to five km, he said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the ill-fated vessel, 28 were rescued, police said.
More than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, joined the search operation that resumed at 5 on Saturday morning. The operation, involving the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, was briefly affected at around 9 am due to strong winds, officials said.
Post-mortem examinations of nine deceased persons have been completed, Mishra said.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will also register a First Information Report in the case soon," he said.
Police said CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat while the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the tragedy and dismissed three crew members. It also banned operation of similar vessels in the state.
