NGT gets conflicting reports on Rohtang

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 16

Contradicting the report of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) Deputy Registrar that 5,000 vehicles are daily being plied on the Manali-Rohtang road, another report by RL Sood, senior advocate appointed as Commissioner by the tribunal today put the number of vehicles at around 700.

The Himachal Government can draw some solace from the fact that this 20-page report of the Commissioner has differed on several points with the report submitted by the Deputy Registrar, NGT. The NGT has two reports with conflicting facts on the ground reality in Rohtang.

Sood, who visited Rohtang on June 21, clearly stated that the report of Sheetal Sharma, Deputy Registrar, NGT, was purely based on visual observation, guess and estimation.

“The inspection of registers revealed that everyday, on an average, about 700 vehicles were entered. The Manali SDM was personally inspecting the vehicles, passes and other documents,” Sood observed in his report.

Substantiating his observation, Sood said if 5,000 vehicles were daily driven to Rohtang, a minimum of 50 km would be covered, and that too, bumper to bumper. “The fact thus remains that not more than 1,000 vehicles are being permitted to ply between Vashisht and Rohtang, a distance of 51 km,” he observed.

Sood observed that the district administration had complied with the directions of the NGT with regard to not allowing any fresh ‘khoka’ or shack to come up in the area. Sood has earlier submitted three reports to the NGT after visiting the area. This was the fourth report submitted by him.

He differed with the report of Sheetal Sharma wherein she observed that the mechanism for checking the permit of vehicles and pollution certificates was highly ill-managed.

“I observed that the staff posted at the barrier at Vashisht was technically trained with a diploma in mechanical engineering from an ITI and the others were sufficiently educated,” he said. He added that the barrier was properly manned by police and Home Guard personnel.

The Deputy Registrar of the NGT visited Rohtang on June 22 and submitted her report in which she had pointed out that 5,000 vehicles were driven to the area in three hours. She had referred to shrinking of Beas Kund glacier due to commercial activities.

Sood suggested certain activities like snow scooter and said the broad path encircling this area could be demarcated for horses with instructions that the association of horse owners should employ labour to clean the area of dung.