The Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal has insisted on the collection of fees to permit the immersion of Vinayaka idols in waterbodies as part of Vinayaka Chaturthi.
During the hearing of a 2023 petition filed by a Chennai resident, the Bench, comprising Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and expert member Satyagopal Korlapati, on Thursday questioned the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board’s hesitancy in levying a fee for the immersion of idols.
The Bench, which had delivered its verdict on the petition in January, had ordered a slew of measures to be followed before the festival. Among them was a direction that a committee constituted by the Bench convene a meeting at least six months before the festival every year so that through proper consultation, artificial tanks can be created, waterbodies can be notified well in advance, and the manufacture of idols with Plaster of Paris can be prevented..
The committee comprises the Secretary to the Public Works Department, the Additional Chief Secretary or Commissioner of Revenue Administration, and the Chairman of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, under the chairmanship of the Additional Chief Secretary to the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Forests.
Another crucial direction of the committee was to fix the fees to be collected upfront from persons seeking permission for the immersion of idols in the designated waterbodies, and the penalty to be levied for immersing idols in unnotified waterbodies.
However, when the petition was taken up by the Bench this week for reporting compliance, it came to light through the counsel appearing for the TNPCB that both these measures had not been implemented. Further, the TNPCB had not notified waterbodies for idol immersion.
The Government Pleader reported that the committee had convened last week to address preparedness issues, including law and order concerns and the issuance of dos and don’ts for the festival.
Expressing disappointment with the submission, the Bench questioned why the committee had not met six months earlier. In response, the TNPCB counsel requested additional time to finalise the fee and notify waterbodies, citing the festival’s religious significance as a factor in the delay.
Published - September 05, 2024 09:02 pm IST
