Lucknow, July 14 (Inditop.com) An educational campus, owned by Bahujan Samaj Party general secretary Akhilesh Das has been charged with polluting the Gomti river, where thousands of fish have died due to discharge of hazardous effluents from it, officials said Tuesday
Situated on the outskirts of the state capital, the campus has two engineering colleges, a dental college and a management school named after Das’s father, late Banarsi Das, a former chief minister of the state. Das is considered close to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.
While the institution has erected a huge Ganesh Temple at its entrance, which allegedly encroaches upon the Lucknow-Faizabad highway, effluents from the campus were draining into the Gomti river which flows behind the campus.
The case of polluting the river by the institution was raised at a meeting of the state environment department here Monday, following which the authorities concerned issued a show-cause notice.
“While going into reports about large scale death of fish in the Gomti river, the pollution control board officials discovered that the discharge from Banarsi Das group of institutions was largely responsible for causing pollution, so we had to initiate necessary measures,” principal secretary (environment) Alok Ranjan told IANS here Tuesday.
“The institution authorities have been given 15 days’ time to submit their plan to put up an effluent treatment plant, failing which we would have no option but to initiate prosecution proceedings,” he added.
