| INDIA LEGAL |July 22, 2019 35their family and friends. While one
report said that the garbage was about
32,000 kilos, another report estimated
it to be around 40,000 kilos. An IANS
report said that “over 220 quintal was
collected from the wedding site bet ween
Sunday and Monday noon (June 23-
June 24)”. It quoted an official of the
Joshimath municipal body as saying
that seven to eight trucks had been
dep loyed to ferry the solid waste to
Harid war for disposal, with each truck
fetching anything between 50,000 and70,000.
For littering the wedding site with
garbage, the South Africa-based busi-
nessmen have to pay a penalty of 1.5 lakh and another1 lakh for open defe-
cation, a hard-to-believe act when the
practice is said to have ended. SP Nauti -
yal, executive officer of the Joshimath
civic body, is reported to have said that
“a bill of `8.14 lakh was being prepared
for collecting the garbage left behind by
the wedding party”.
D
espite the accumulation of solid
waste in such a large quantity,
the sub-divisional magistrate,
Vaibhav Gupta, reportedly said there
was no controversy regarding the wed-
dings as a team of 13 officials monitored
and video-recorded the events as per the
Uttarakhand High Court’s order. The
Court had also directed against helicop-
ters landing at Auli, besides restricting
the maximum number of guests to 150.
On the Court’s orders, the Guptas had
deposited a security of `3 crore with the
Chamoli district officials, under whose
jurisdiction Joshimath falls.
In a letter to Union Environment
Min ister Prakash Javadekar against the
wedding, lawyer and environmentalist
Akash Vashishtha voiced his concern for
the region’s ecology. He wrote: “The
Garhwal Himalayas are already battling
for pristinity and existence with no
mech anism yet for enforcement of Solid
Waste Management Rules, 2016, no se -
wage system, no assessment of carrying
capacities...and no assessments of Cum -
u lative Impact and any such unmindful
and reckless personal event would cause
irreversible damage to the fragile ecolo-
gy of the whole Himalayan landscape.”
The letter had no effect.With regards to Chamoli district’s
fragile ecology, the High Court in 2018
had restricted the number of tourists to
alpine and sub-alpine meadows to 200.
The Court had ordered the removal of
all permanent structures to prevent
night stays and even banned cattle graz-
ing. The Court said that fibre huts con-
structed with concrete base “adversely
affect the environment and ecology of
the area. The bugyals(Garhwali for
high altitude meadows) are maintaining
the ecosystem”.
According to retired IFS officer
Srikant Chandola, whether there has
been any damage to the ecology of the
wedding site “is difficult to measure as
not many are aware of the required
parameters”. Vashishtha described as
“unfortunate and unwarranted” the pro-
motion of “the ecologically-disastrous
affair” by the Uttarakhand government.
But for Chief Minister Rawat it was
an “investment opportunity”. “This
should be seen as an investment oppor-
tunity and as an exercise to promote
Uttarakhand as a wedding destination,”
he was quoted as saying. Obviously, con-
servation of ecology is of lesser concern
to the chief minister who would be well-
advised to take a few lessons from Swit -
zerland which has promoted itself as a
tourist destination without any threat to
the environment.
Politics plays a major role in environ-
mental degradation. In 2017, Sri Sri
Ravi shankar with political patronage
organised a World Culture Fest on the
Yamuna floodplains, causing “extensive
and severe damage”. With the Uttara -
khand chief minister looking at the wed-
ding as an investment opportunity, more
such big-ticket events could be on the
anvil, push ing environment down the
priority list.Twitter: @indialegalmedia
Website: http://www.indialegallive.com
Contact: [email protected]In a letter to Union Environment Minister
Prakash Javadekar against the Gupta
wedding, lawyer and environmentalist
Akash Vashishtha had voiced concern for
the region’s ecology. But it had no effect.DAMAGING ECOLOGY
Pilgrims on the Char Dham yatraat Gangotri
in Uttarakhand. The high influx is an issueUNI