Poush Mela pollution at varsity: PCB showcauses registrar of Visva Bharati

Kolkata: The West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) on Tuesday issued a show-cause notice to the registrar of Visva Bharati (VB) University seeking an explanation why the Board will not impose an Environment Compensation (EC) of Rs 10 lakhs on the varsity for its failure to comply with the action plan to check pollution during the Poush Mela.

A meeting was held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha on December 18 which was attended by senior state government officials, District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police, Birbhum and the Registrar of VB Asha Mukherjee where the registrar was requested to ensure some specific actions to be implemented during Poush Mela.

The Member Secretary of WBPCB Rajesh Kumar communicated the minutes of the meeting to all participants. The action plan for mitigating pollution was prepared as per directions of National Green Tribunal .

However, when the officials of the state Pollution Control Board inspected the Poush Mela venue on December 24 and 25 they stumbled upon several non-compliances.

"A number of food stalls were found using coal fired oven within the fair venue. There were sufficient public toilets & bio toilets but proper sanitation and cleanliness was not maintained. The condition of the ladies toilets were also found to be very poor. The fire fighting arrangement in the stalls were also lacking," a senior official of WBPCB said.

" We have asked the authorities to reply to the showcause notice within 10 days. The next course of action will follow based upon the reply," said Rajesh Kumar, Member Secretary of WBPCB.

Registrar of VB, Asha Mukherjee when contacted asked this correspondent to contact its spokesperson for a response in this regard.

"We have not yet received any communication in this regard from WBPCB. Once we receive the same, we will go for our next course of action," said a spokesperson of VB.

The Poush Mela in Shantiniketan in Birbhum used to take place for three days officially but it continued for another 15 days resulting in various environmental implications.

Last year, a case was registered with some environmentalists seeking permission so that the Poush Mela cannot continue for more than three days. This year the Mela was a three day affair.