NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal has sought responses from the Centre and the state government on a plea seeking action over the issue of waste disposal and littering by tourists and commercial outlets in Himachal Pradesh's Koksar, an extremely eco-sensitive area.
A Bench of Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Expert Member Dr. A. Senthil Vel took note of the massive environmental violations arising out of the non-compliance of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 in Koksar which is situated at an altitude of 5484 m in Lahaul & Spiti district on the Leh-Manali Highway which completely remains frozen for more than seven months in a year.
The green court also issued notices to the Central Pollution Control Board, the Himachal Pradesh Department of Environment, the Himachal Pradesh Pollution Control Board, the Deputy Commissioner, Lahaul & Spiti and the Village Panchayat, Koksar in the matter.
According to the plea, littering is not done only by tourists but also by commercial establishments and that it is not disposed of, segregated and processed by the local authority.
The area is situated just 19 km from the Rohtang Pass.
The petition brought by Friends, an environmental organization, contended that despite being an extremely eco-sensitive region, Koksar has been mindlessly converted into a tourist point, over the years, witnessing massive, uncontrolled volume of tourists, every single day.
Almost every tourist visiting Manali heads to Koksar situated hardly 42 km therefrom.
The tourists are being taken and allowed entry beyond the Taxi Stand to Koksar without any checks.
As a consequence, tourists carry their food in non-biodegradable wafers, plastic water bottles, soft drinks, tobacco/pan masala wafers and virtually almost everything, all packaged in non-biodegradable materials, the petition averred, adding that the littering and waste dumping caused by visitors to Koksar is polluting the pristine streams and water channels therein and is causing irreparable harm to the extremely fragile ecology of the Koksar area.
The dumping of wastes and the over-tourism is directly upsetting the highly fragile ecology and endangering the very existence of the para-glacier and the surrounding glaciers such as Rohtang, the petition Adv Akash Vashishtha, representing the Petitioner, submitted.
He said Koksar, for most parts of the year, experiences below-freezing temperatures, much like Siachen and was extremely rich in Alpine biodiversity.
"Uncontrolled and unregulated volume of tourists are made to enter Koksar every single day, because of which massive littering and illegal, unchecked dumping of wastes take place in Koksar. There is no waste disposal, no segregation and no processing of wastes, as required by the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016," Vashishtha, told the court.
"Eleven months after the tribunal’s orders to the state to strictly monitor the situation , bridge the gaps in solid waste generation and treatment at the earliest, and execute restoration plans in in a time-bound manner, without further delay, no measures, whatsoever, seem to have been taken on the ground," he argued.
The court has fixed the matter for further hearing on April 3.