Plea Filed In NGT, For Protection Of UNESCO World Heritage Site ‘Kaas Plateau’

Recently, an environmental activist has filed an application for the restitution and restoration of the environment and ecology of 'Kaas Plateau' in the National Green Tribunal under Section 15 of the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010, read with Sections 18 and 20 of the NGT Act. The application raises concerns about illegal construction near the plateau, which is threatening the biological diversity and the rights of wild animals in ‘Kaas Plateau’. These illegal constructions operate in an Eco-Sensitive zone and therefore are causing severe environmental damage to the ‘Kaas Plateau’. The Applicant claims that the observations and the subsequent notices sent by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board clearly shows that hundred establishments are illegally operating in the Kaas Plateau region which is a pollution control area under the Water Act 1974, Air Act 1981, Hazardous and Other Wastes Rules, 2016 and the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. The Applicant has prayed to direct the Respondents, MPCB, Environment & Climate Change Department, State of Maharashtra, to remove and demolish all the illegal constructions on the ‘Kaas Plateau’ and impose heavy fines for the environmental damages caused by the hundred Respondents who have illegally constructed and are running hotels and farmhouses on the Yavateshwar to Kas Road and on the ‘Kaas Plateau’.