Sabarmati pollution: Ahmedabad civic body differs in submissions to HC, NGT

Also while AMC informed the Gujarat HC on April 22 that it will work out an action plan to put a stop to discharge of wastewater in the river through such storm water drain outfalls, the report submitted to the NGT-constituted joint committee’s on April 22, indicates that AMC already submitted an action plan with short and long-term measures with respect to the three specific stormwater drain outfalls , which includes construction of a 60 MLD sewage treatment plant at Kotarpur, expected to be commissioner by June 2023.

In further proof of ongoing pollution of Sabarmati river, an NGT-constituted joint committee has observed on the basis of field observations, information provided by AMC and sample analysis results, that the storm water drain in Naroda–Hansol area “carries untreated sewage and also intermittently industrial effluent is also discharged” in this storm water drain, which is ultimately discharged in Sabarmati river.

The committee, which submitted its report on April 22, comes in an ongoing proceeding before the principal bench of NGT at the behest of Ashwinbhai Patel, who had alleged that dead animals, human excretions,  industrial chemical waste, were being dumped in Sabarmati river through stormwater drain (Naroda to Hansol). The NGT in January had ordered for the constitution of a joint committee to look into the allegations.

In an ongoing PIL before the HC concerning pollution in Sabarmati, the HC-constituted joint task force had informed the court on April 22 about the discharge flowing from the stormwater drain behind Riverside School, which is exclusively meant to carry rainwater, “has heavy chemical contents”, indicating illegal connections in the stormwater drain, a submission  seconded by the AMC.

The court had inquired from amicus curiae Hemang Shah as to how many such stormwater drain outlets are there with its outfall in the Sabarmati river, to which Shah had said “no one (from AMC) is now coming forward to disclose (the number of stormwater outfalls in Sabarmati river)”.

Shah said that JTF had specifically sought this information from AMC but had not been provided with the same. The bench had further inquired during the April 22 hearing of the PIL, “Stormwater drains must have been laid by the AMC, so the record must be speaking as to how many storm water drains are there with outlets in Sabarmati river?”

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AMC’s counsel had informed the court during the hearing that “across the city, 970 kilometres of interconnected storm water drains exist,” while adding that the counsel “does not have the total number of stormwater outfalls,” and assured the court that the civic body will put such details on affidavit.

The division bench had recommended the AMC to “work out a concrete action plan at the earliest,” while adding that the plan must ensure that “nobody meddles around the stormwater drain”, directing that the plan must be put on court’s record by the next date of hearing, scheduled for July 1.

However, the NGT-constituted joint committee report says, “It is evident from the information provided by AMC that the SWD network in the northern part of Ahmedabad city carries sewage from different pockets and there are three major outlets in this SWD network namely Kotarpur, Ranmukteshwar and behind Riverside school which are discharging in River Sabarmati.”