BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Thursday asked BBMP to inform whether it has taken any expert opinion to stop covering stormwater drains (SWD) in the city with concrete slabs. It also asked if chain link fence on either side of the drains is enough to prevent accidents of people falling into drains.
The division bench of Chief Justice Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S R Krishna Kumar said this in response to a PIL filed by a city-based foundation. This was after the BBMP submitted an affidavit stating that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had issued an order to the Haryana government not to cover the SWDs but to desilted them instead. This order was issued in consultation with the State Pollution Control Board and the Municipal Corporation, Gurugram.
The NGT had asked the Central Pollution Control Board to issue such directions throughout India. Observing that the said NGT order is not applicable to BBMP, the court asked the palike if it had taken expert opinion before they decided to stop covering STPs, which would in fact lead to flooding, the court said.
The court also wondered how the BBMP adopted a direction issued to the Haryana government when the BBMP does not comply with various directions issued by the court itself.