New Delhi, Mar 10 Immense public infrastructure has been destroyed and damaged because officers were "dragging their feet", the Supreme Court said on Tuesday while hearing a case on contamination of three rivers in Rajasthan.
The court was hearing a suo motu case concerning contamination in the Jojari river. It had also flagged the issue of contamination in Bandi and Luni rivers in the state.
The top court in November last year constituted a high-level ecosystem oversight committee to detect the fundamental maladies in the system, to supervise the remedial measures required to arrest further pollution and to give long term suggestions for reversal of the damage already caused.
While hearing the matter on Tuesday, a bench of justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said the committee has given its interim report.
The bench told the counsel appearing for Rajasthan that there were serious issues in the way the state was providing requisite facility and assistance to the committee.
"Immense public infrastructure is damaged and destroyed because the officers were dragging their feet," the bench said, adding several factories were operating without permission.
The state's counsel assured the bench that issues pointed out by the committee regarding providing adequate logistical support would be taken care of by the state by the next date of hearing.
The bench noted that the committee has given its report in different compartments highlighting the action taken, recommendations made and the logistical issues faced by it in completing the task assigned to it.
The top court has posted the matter for hearing on March 17.
In its order passed in November last year, the apex court had said contamination in the Jojari, Bandi and Luni rivers reflected a sustained "systemic collapse" of regulatory vigilance and "utter administrative apathy" stretching over nearly two decades.
"The present proceedings involve issues of grave concern and disastrous consequences, as a fallout of apathy at all levels which has virtually put the lives of two million people, animals and the ecosystem of three important rivers in western Rajasthan at peril," the bench had said.
It had noted the Jojari river passes through Jodhpur, the Bandi river flows through Pali, and the Luni river passes through Balotra. The Bandi and Jojari rivers merge into the Luni near Balotra city.
Referring to the broad terms of reference of the committee, the top court had said the panel shall prepare a scientifically grounded, time-bound restoration and rejuvenation blueprint for the river system.
