Marriage halls brazen it out, won't stop bookings

BHOPAL: Despite notices being served by the civic body to stop all illegal activities at the behest of the green panel, bookings are going on in full swing for those marriage halls which have been found polluting the Upper Lake and have been named in the interim report of the joint survey conducted by Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC), Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board (MPPCB) and Town and Country Planning (TNCP) recently.All 24 marriage halls surveyed in the vicinity of the Upper Lake have been found violating on grounds of pollution. Also, none of them has permission for operating as marriage gardens, they have health and fitness club licences.
Talking to TOI, advocate for petitioner Vivek Choudhary, said, "With the advent of marriage season, dumping of waste, including food leftovers, lack of parking will compound the already existing problem. There is a need for inspection of all marriage halls in the city not just those near the Lake. Those in the residential areas, too, are violating a lot of norms of parking, solid waste management among others."
The National Green Tribunal (NGT), Bhopal bench, had issued an interim order on May 8 in response to petitioner Neel Choudhary directing BMC restraining all marriage gardens and halls from throwing wastes generated at their premises in the Upper Lake and other lakes and discharging it into the lake. Notices were issued to all the marriage halls and gardens in this regard on May 17. The BMC on August 20 issued notices to all the marriage halls restricting them from carrying out illegal activities their premises like improper disposal of waste etc within 10 days.
The interim report was submitted jointly by a team constituted by NGT comprising R K Jain, member secretary MPPCB, Subhashish Banerjee, director TNCP and BMC commissioner Vishesh Garhpale.
Bsed on parameters like noise pollution, general capacity for solid waste storage and food leftover, the survey was conducted.
The report among other things stated that even though it is off season, more than two months old food leftovers were found on the premises of some marriage gardens.
However, owners of the marriage gardens are crying foul. "There are more than 100 marriage gardens in Bhopal. Then only why have we been named? All of them are polluting in the same way," said an owner.
Even with the matter being sub judice, the district administration had issued orders for marriage gardens on May 17 that they should have a service line, garbage bins and provisions for parking which, according to TNCP, is 30% area of the plot. However, almost all marriage halls are lagging.