Ranchi, Jul 31 (PTI) The Jharkhand High Court on Thursday ordered state government officers and the authorities in Ranchi to ensure that encroachments are removed from the water bodies.
The court ordered that the areas around the water bodies should be converted into a “no-entry zone”.
Barbed wire fencing should be erected in those places to prevent encroachment, the bench said.
The orders were given to secretaries of the water resources and urban development departments, besides the Deputy Commissioner and the Ranchi Municipal Corporation administrator.
The officers appeared before the high court in person on a previous order of the court and were directed to take immediate steps to remove all encroachments from the catchment area of various water bodies in the capital and across the state.
A division bench of Chief Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad were hearing a public interest litigation on encroachment around water bodies.
The court ordered the government to file a detailed affidavit in the matter, informing about the steps taken to secure the catchment area of the water bodies.
The case will again be heard on August 22.
The court was informed that several acres of land have been encroached upon in the vicinity of the Kanke and Dhurwa dams in the capital.
Land has been sold by local touts, and multi-storied buildings have been constructed around the dams, due to which the source of water has been cut off.
The PIL has been filed by advocate Khushbu Kataruka who presented the sorry state of affairs of the Ranchi Lake in the heart of the city.
The lake also known as Swami Vivekanand Sarovar and popularly known as the ‘Bada Talab’ has suffered due to lack of upkeep by the Ranchi Municipal Corporation.