Untidy Har-ki-Pauri upsets NGT Commissioner

Tribune News Service

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Haridwar, June 21

Local Commissioner of the National Green Tribunal Shakir Zaidi during a two-day inspection visit to the city has expressed unhappiness at the shoddy condition of Ganga ghats, adjacent markets and civic and sanitation facilities at Har-ki-Pauri in Haridwar.

Zaidi told The Tribune that sanitation and cleanliness at Har-ki-Pauri and adjacent ghats was not up to the standards of the status of this world renowned pilgrimage city. Traders, pundits and local people were using polythene bags on a large scale in the core mela zone, which should be stopped.

Also, encroachment is a major cause for concern. The encourage should be removed, as millions arrive in Haridwar on festivals, including Ardh Kumbh, Maha Kumbh and Kanwar pilgrimages, for having a bath in the Ganga.

He said he had given directives and suggestions to Municipal Corporation officials and office-bearers of the Shri Ganga Sabha, which manages the facilities at the Har-ki-Pauri Ganga ghat, to keep the ghats clean and safe for pilgrims.

He also directed officials concerned to ban consumption of food products on Ganga ghats and check quality of flowers being submerged in the Ganga by pilgrims as many flower cases (dona) made of leaves carried pollutants.

On Zaidi’s suggestions, Mukhya Nagar Adhikari Vipra Trivedi said the Municipal Corporation had taken seriously the issues and aspects pointed out by him and she had ordered her subordinates to follow the directives.

Though Vipra said mass consensus and awareness was also needed to check use of polythene bags as their recent drive against polythene bags did not bear the desired results due to lack of cooperation from traders, purohits, local people, pilgrims and tourists.