TS Pollution Control Board calls on people to follow HC guidelines

Hyderabad: The TS Pollution Control Board, which received a rap — and a reminder of its powers to implement pollution control measures — from the High Court last week over its handling of immersion of Ganesha idols made of plaster of Paris (PoP) in the city's water bodies, on Saturday practically threw up its hands and called on people to follow the court “guidelines.”

TSPCB member secretary Neetu Kumari Prasad, in a news release, said the High Court had ordered that PoP idols should not be immersed in Hussainsagar ‘pond’ and other natural ‘ponds’ in and around Hyderabad. “To celebrate the eco-friendly Vinayaka Chavithi festival, it should be done in the direction of environmental protection and, to respect the orders of the High Court in following the guidelines prescribed for immersion of idols,” the official said.

“There isn’t much that the PCB can do. Every time we attempt to control, they (the idol-makers) run to politicians. The State Pollution Control Board always gets caught between implementing environmental protection, and politicians,” a TSPCB official said.

The High Court on September 9 banned immersion of PoP idols in any natural water body in the city and issued a set of directions that included a ban on immersing idols from the Tank Bund road.