Varanasi Civic Body Fined Rs 27 Lakh For Failing To Stop Slaughterhouse Waste Drainage Into River Varuna

The National Green Tribunal has fined Varanasi municipal corporation of Rs 27 lakh for failing to check the drainage of slaughterhouses waste, such as blood, flesh, and intestines of slaughtered animals, into River Varuna, Hindi News18 has reported.

This news comes when the annual Kanwad pilgrimage is about to begin in which scores of Hindus make pilgrimage to Ganga from far-off places, often on foot, to take a dip in the holy river and carry Ganga Jal home.

A team of the NGT-constituted Eastern UP Rivers and Water Reservoirs Monitoring Committee had discovered blood, flesh, and intestines from illegal slaughterhouses draining into the river earlier in January this year.

Times of India reported in January that “the team was in Varanasi on a three-day inspection of the city's waste disposal and management, when it undertook a sudden inspection of the drain flowing from Ardali Bazaar locality”.

The team, accompanied by members of pollution control boards of central and state governments along with the Varanasi Municipal Corporation, had observed at around 7 am that the drain’s water began to turn red. The colour deepened with time and then intestines also began showing.

The locality had a non-functional governmental slaughterhouse where, the committee suspected, illegal slaughter was being conducted in houses tucked in the lanes of the city.

“We reached the spot early morning after being informed that this is the drain's condition every morning after 7 am. For the next one hour then, the blood kept flowing, entering the Varuna river. This was not even in the knowledge of the Varanasi Municipal Corporation,” Justice (retired) DP Singh, chairperson of the committee, was quoted as saying by ToI.

Justice Singh added that they also found 50 goats at the slaughterhouse, which hinted at ‘illegal butchery within the homes, for probable supply to hotels’.

The Committee then began preparing a report which was to be submitted to NGT after consultation with scientists. This fine was recommended by the committee in the report.

The report found low levels of oxygen in the river, which studies have linked to slaughterhouses waste. A government study in 1999 identified slaughterhouses waste as the prime reason for bacterial contamination in Kali Nadi, another tributary of Ganga. Bacterial contamination is linked to low oxygen levels in water bodies.