Govt defends work as justice wades into pond row

Govt defends work as justice wades into pond row



Justice Saldanha defended his stand by martialling his arguments thus: "In the pond, emergency work has to be carried out such as fencing of the pond and also some engineering work. There is a stream in the Cubbon Park that flows from the GPO side. It brings all the pollutants from the different ends of the park and this is let into the Lotus Pond. This pollution has been happening for the last three years.
"The horticulture department dumps all kinds of garbage into the stream and that is how the water is getting polluted. On March 20, we held a protest after thousands of fish had died in the pond. It is a live pond with two dozen tortoises and turtles. The fish were brought from the fisheries department.
"According to the survey that was conducted by the experts in February 2010, there were 12,000 fish in the pond and the lake is under populated.
"I had written a letter to the horticulture department on April 17 informing them that we have cleaned up the water in the pond. Now there is nothing more need to be done. We require you to stop the stream water from getting into the pond.
"We have got the engineers and the experts to prevent dirty water from entering the pond. Inner areas have to be paved in the park premises.
"According to Article 31 A of the Constitution of India, a citizen has to take care of environment. In keeping with this, we have taken care of the environment."