Karnataka: Cut power, water to toxic units, directs National Green Tribunal

Bengaluru: The principal bench of the National Green Tribunal, Delhi, on Thursday directed the Joint Investigation Team of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, BDA and BWSSB to order all industries around the frothing Bellandur lake to install Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) and disconnect their electricity and water supply if they do not comply within the deadline given.

Also ordering the polluting industries those are flouting the rules to be sealed, the NGT insisted that the electricity and water supply of apartments and residential complexes around Bellandur lake too should be similarly cut off if they didn't install Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) in the reasonable time given to them.

It also directed the board and the state government to collect samples from the existing STPs around the lake and have them inspected by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to assess the quality of water and the treatment plant. Adjourning the case to July 13, the NGT advised the state government not to waste time on making 100-200 page reports and instead act on its orders.

Meanwhile the pollution control board said in a report to the tribunal that 76 of the 97 industries around Bellandur lake had been shut.