Make 'Pous Mela' environment-friendly, NGT tells Visva Bharati

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday asked the Visva Bharati University to organise the 'Pous Mela' at Shantiniketan in an environment-friendly way in cooperation with West Bengal's Birbhum district administration and Bolpur Municipality.

The two-member NGT Bench of Justice S P Wangdi and Prof (Dr) P C Mishra, in a fresh directive, asked the Visva Bharati to cooperate with the district administration for safety, security and protection of environment during the fair.

Visva Bharati along with the Santiniketan Trust and Bolpur Municipality will jointly bear the responsibility of cleaning and ensuring the sanitation of the fair,the order said.

The tribunal ordered that there will be no bursting of sound-emitting crackers and the display of fireworks, a tradition followed on the second day of the fair, will be organised in an open space, away from the fair ground, for not more than 30 minutes.

The bench, which also enclosed its 2017 order along similar lines with certain guidelines for holding of the fair, said that food stalls should be set up in an enclosed area with adequate measures for controlling dust and waste removal, and facilities for clean drinking water and toilets.

The NGT further allowed the fair organisers to continue the annual affair till the fourth day and gave a 48- hour period for dismantling and removing of stalls.

The tribunal also asked the district authorities to allow the stall owners to complete the task within the specified period.

The 'Pous Mela', which draws lakhs of people from India and abroad, will be held from December 23 this year.

The bench also directed the varsity to ensure proper management of solid waste and to stop fossil fuel burning during the fair in cooperation with the state government.

The tribunal had earlier formed a three-member committee to oversee and monitor the arrangements for the 'Pous Mela'.

Environmentalist Subhas Dutta, West Bengal Pollution Control Board Chairman Kalyan Rudra and former Advocate General of West Bengal, Jayanta Mitra are the members of the panel.

"Visva Bharati, having Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Chancellor, cannot shy away from taking necessary measures to make the fair environment-friendly in cooperation with the state government," said Dutta.

Visva Bharati authorities, who had earlier said they would be organising the fair along with trust, were not available for comments.

The fair was commenced in 1894 by Rabindranath Tagore's father, Maharshi Debendranath, and Visva-Bharati started organising the Pous Mela in 1951.