NHRC summons U.P. Chief Secretary, Meerut officials

 The National Human Rights Commission has summoned the Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary and four other senior officials to appear before it in person here on August 25 following non-compliance of the Commission’s earlier directive for closure of an illegal abattoir and about 250 furnaces in use for extraction of animal bone fat in Meerut city.

The others who have been summoned are Meerut’s DIG-cum-SSP, District Magistrate, Municipal Commissioner and the State Pollution Control Board Chairman.

The Commission in its notice to the UP Government said the Right to Health was not only a vital human right but also a Fundamental Right guaranteed in the Constitution. If the citizens’ health was affected due to pollution and the local administration showed a lackadaisical approach towards solving the problem, the Commission could not keep waiting as a helpless spectator and would have to take effective steps.

For the last six months the Commission had been trying to provide some relief to the inhabitants of Meerut from pollution-causing illegal activity but, despite an assurance given to it in person on June 3 this year, neither the DM nor the Municipal Commissioner kept their word on closure of illegal furnaces and abattoir within 15 days, said the Commission.

A team of the Commission’s Investigation Division visited the spot twice. In the spot inquiry conducted on July 15 and 16 it found that there was no change in the situation. The local administration’s claim that some furnaces had been removed or demolished was found to be not true as about 200 furnaces were still operating.

The investigating team also reported to the Commission that the slaughter house on municipal land continued to function illegally polluting the environment within a radius of 2.5 km. Slaughtered animals’ blood and waste were flushed through open drains earlier resulting in ghastly pollution of drinking water.