NGT questions UP Pollution Control Board for sharing Kumbh water quality report based on old samples

The National Green Tribunal on Wednesday questioned the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board for submitting a report on the quality of river water at the Maha Kumbh site in Prayagraj based on outdated samples, reported India Today.

The tribunal said the samples had been obtained on January 12, a day before the pilgrimage began. “Why have you filed such a huge document then?” it asked the state pollution control board. “To waste our time?”

The state additional advocate general, representing the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board, told the tribunal that it had tested recent samples and would place them on record. The pollution control board said that corrective measures were being taken to address water pollution.

“For each deviation, monitoring and corrective action is going on,” the state government said, according to India Today.

The Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board on Wednesday claimed that the water at the Maha Kumbh was fit for bathing. This contradicted a report of the Central Pollution Control Board from February 3, which said that the river water quality of the Ganga and Yamuna was not fit for bathing on account of high levels of bacteria commonly found in human and animal excreta.

The state pollution control board claimed that the dissolved oxygen level in the river water was 8.9 milligrams…

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