BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Friday permitted Yard House Brewery Pvt Ltd to run the businesses of bar and restaurant in Bellandur lake catchment area on a condition that it shall not discharge any effluents, either treated or untreated, into the lake during the pendency of the writ petition.
Hearing the petition filed by Yard House Brewery Pvt Ltd against Karnataka State Pollution Control Board’s closure notice, the division bench of Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice P S Dinesh Kumar also asked BESCOM to restore electricity connection, which was disconnected in response to Board’s request. However, in the interim order, the division bench made it clear that the brewery must not operate on the ground floor of the building till a joint inspection by the Pollution Control Board and an analysis of the report was made.
During the hearing, Srivatsa, counsel for the petitioner submitted that no other bar and restaurant had been closed by the Pollution Control Board, but the Board singled out the case of the petitioner.
Countering this, Gururaj Joshi, counsel for KSPCB, strongly defended the Board’s steps. The division bench also posed a question to KSPCB as to how many bars and restaurants in and around Bellandur were closed. Joshi said that he will place the same on record by the next hearing.
High phosphorous in detergents causing lake froth: Expert
Bengaluru: A civic expert has written to BBMP Joint Commissioner, Health and Solid Waste Management Sarfaraz Khan and Swachh Bharat officials, asking them to make it mandatory for manufacturers of detergents and laundry bars to declare the phosphorus content in them. In her proposal Almitra Patel, also a national expert on the Swachh Bharat Mission, says the foam in the city’s lakes is being caused by high phosphorus content in detergents and laundry bars. For now, she asks to make it mandatory for products to have a sticker indicating their phosphorus content and whether its surfactants are biodegradable or not.