The National Green Tribunal on Monday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to file a status report within a month over failure to comply with the directions of tribunal against running of illegal slaughterhouses in Bulandshahr district’s Khurja region and discharging of effluent waste into Yamuna river.
It was hearing a plea filed by environment activist Shailesh Singh in 2016 against illegal operation of slaughterhouses in Aligarh, Bulandshahr, Sambhal and Ghaziabad districts of the state.
When the matter came up today, the tribunal said effluents were being discharged into ground water and rivers but recommendations made by the state-level committee have not been followed.
NGT observed that remedial actions were required to be taken and directed the respondents to furnish a status report on the issue within one month.
It listed the matter for further hearing on April 16.
In his petition, Singh had alleged that the abattoirs were discharging untreated effluents contaminated with animal waste and blood of slaughtered animals in open drains which go into the tributaries of the Ganga and the Yamuna, polluting them.
The plea highlighted the issue of illegal extraction of ground water by slaughterhouses without the requisite permission from the competent authorities and raised the issue of air pollution caused by the release of toxic fumes emitted from furnaces to extract animal bone fat.