Nashik civic body asked to remove sewage lines

Stating that a Bombay high court order has called for the removal of sewage lines from riverbeds, environmentalist Rajesh Pandit on Thursday sent notices to the Nashik administration to remove the same from the Godavari and its tributaries to avoid further pollution.

Copies of the notice were sent to Nashik’s revenue commissioner and collector, the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) commissioner and others. NMC commissioner Krishna Abhishek told The Asian Age on Thursday that he was out of station and could not comment on the matter at present.

Mr Pandit and Nishikant Pagare have filed PIL 176/2012 in the Bombay high court.

The notice states, “The NMC has laid down many sewer lines in the riverbed of the Godavari as well as in the riverbeds of its tributaries, i.e. in Nasardi, Waghadi, Waldevi and other nullahs.” The notice also said many of the sewer chambers were broken and some were even washed away during the floods on August 2.

As a result, lakhs of litres of untreated sewage is directly entering the Godavari River and its tributaries, while the groundwater, too, was getting polluted due to percolation. Mr Pandit said the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute has also recommended there should be no intercepting sewers in red or blue lines. A HC-appointed committee — comprising the Nashik revenue commissioner, collector, NMC commissioner and others — has also agreed sewer drains would not be laid in the rivers in the future.

The notice cites the HC order on 26.4.2011 in PIL 41/2011 (a copy of which is available with this paper) calling for the Pune Municipal Corporation to “relocate the sewer lines outside drains immediately to prevent ground water contamination through percolation”. Readers may recall the floods in Nashik led to the breaking of the ‘treated sewage’ drain that runs through the bed of the Nandini River, and this allegedly got mixed in the river water.