MUMBAI: The 122-km-long Ulhas river and the Waldhuni river, which have suffered decades of pollution, may finally be saved from total ruin.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Monday ordered four civic bodies, along with the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and operators of the Dombivli and Ambernath common effluent treatment plant to pay up over Rs 100 crore for the restitution and restoration of the rivers.

The civic bodies that have to pay up are the Kalyan-Dombivli municipal corporation, the Ulhasnagar corporation, and the Kulgaon-Badlapur and Ambernath municipal councils.

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The Ulhas river originates in the Sahyadri hills at Karjat and flows down to the Thane creek, a distance of 122 km where it meets the Arabian sea. The Waldhuni river originates in the Ambernath hills.

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The order was delivered on an appeal filed by NGO Vanashakti that had monitored nearly 40km of the river for pollution. The NGT order can be challenged only in the Supreme Court as per the NGT Act.

In its order posted on its website on Monday, the NGT has directed the various agencies to deposit the money with the divisional commissioner over the next 4-6 weeks.

“The Divisional Commissioner shall deposit these funds in special escrow account and use this amount for implementation of scientific programme for cleaning of the river (Ulhas and Waldhuni) as per the plan submitted earlier and ensure that no further riverine pollution occurs and other kind of restoration and remedial measures like removal of sludge accumulated in the river/nullah, beautification of river banks in order to protect the river from any the unauthorized dumping of wastes and effluents in the river Waldhuni and Ulhas estuary. Such works shall be completed in (the) next 18 months. CPCB/MPCB shall provide necessary assistance for this purpose,” states the order.

A committee comprising the collector, the KDMC commissioner, the chief officers of the various municipal councils, the member secretary of MPCB, deputy commissioner of police, Thane, and the deputy chief executive officer (environment), MIDC, shall monitor the plan implementation, states the order.

The order, delivered by justice V R Kingaonkar and Ajay Deshpande, states that the chief secretary will be responsible for ensuring the civic bodies install sewage treatment plants in phases over the next two years. If the civic bodies fail to do so, the MPCB is to initiate “credible legal action” against the agencies and also inform the Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) for suitable action.

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Coming down hard on the MPCB and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the order points out that though the Dombivli area was declared as critically polluted area way back in 2009-10 and “remains so even today, and both MPCB and CPCB are aware that the CETPs are not functioning properly, we do not find any effective intervention by either MPCB or CPCB to regulate such polluting discharges.”

It said both the CPCB and the MPCB did not effectively utilize the provisions of the Water Act to prevent, control and abate pollution of water bodies in the Ulhas basin.

Both CPCB and MPCB have been directed not to allow any industrial expansion till the CETPs at Dombivli and Ambernath are effectively operational. CPCB will have to independently submit compliance reports, states the order.

“We are thankful to the NGT for the order, though we feel the penalties could have been more harsh. Our two years of research and hard work have paid off. We hope this is the beginning of the cleaning up of all rivers in Maharashtra,” said D Stalin, director, Vanshakti.

