The State government has sought to justify the recent opening of a cafe at Mawiong Rim overlooking the Umiam Lake and close to stretches which serve as viewpoints over the lake. The government also sought to justify one of the metal containers being recently made functional to dispense packaged food, drinks and the like.
The attempts by the government to justify the opening of the café including the metal containers were however rejected by the division bench of the Meghalaya High Court today during hearing of a suo motu PIL on cleanliness of Umiam Lake.
During today’s hearing, the State government filed a report before the High Court revealing that as far as the café is concerned, the State Pollution Control Board initially granted consent to establish and, subsequently, granted consent to operate by setting down certain norms.
“The specious explanation furnished by the State is rejected. Till such time that effective guidelines are prepared and presented before the court for its approval to preserve the water-bodies in the State, particularly the Umiam, no new construction or commercial or business activity of any kind will be permitted around the principal water-bodies that may endanger such water-bodies,” the High Court said.
The High Court also observed that even today, there is no explanation or indication as to how the waste generated in the café or by the dispensing unit functioning from the metal container have been required to be dealt with; or whether in the several months that the two have been functioning, there is adequate compliance in such regard.
“The café juts out beyond the road level and hangs over the water, so to say. Anything which flows down from the café would go directly into the water. The State cannot satisfy the court that any measure is in place to ensure that nothing flowing out from the café would contaminate or otherwise disturb the water below,” the High Court said.
“Much is the same about the dispensing unit from the metal container which hangs out from the edge of the road and is directly over the water-body. There are six or seven other containers down the road which do not appear to be functional but which may enjoy the permission from the appropriate authorities,” the court added.
Since the State government told the High Court that the two functioning units, meaning the café and the dispensing unit from the metal container, have been temporarily closed, the court said that the temporary closure will continue till the matter appears at the next hearing on October 17. The court also directed the State government to submit the new set of guidelines on measures to protect water-bodies at the next hearing.
