[dropcap]T[/dropcap]HE National Green Tribunal (NGT) has expressed deep concern at the slow pace of construction of a sewage treatment plant necessary to keep the area around the Tarapith and Maa-Tara Temple in West Bengal clean and the river Dwarka pollution-free.
Responding to a petition regarding the discharge of municipal solid waste and plastic bags in and around the Tarapith area in Birbhum district in West Bengal, a panel headed by Justice S P Wangdi and Dr Satyawan Singh Garbayal directed the State Government and the Birbhum District Magistrate to ensure that work on the sewage treatment plant was completed within a period of six months.
The Birbhum District Magistrate claimed in their report submitted to the NGT that necessary steps against the discharge of municipal solid waste and plastic bags had been taken by appointing a garbage clearance agency for collection of waste material from the periphery of Maa-Tara Temple and both the sides of the river Dwarka.
The report also claimed that the Tarapith area would be declared plastic-free within two months, for which necessary directions had already been issued.
