PCB notice to Ramdev's herbal food park

DEHRADUN: In fresh trouble for Ramdev, Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board has issued a show cause notice to the herbal food park run by the yoga guru at Padartha in Haridwar district for allegedly releasing untreated waste into the water bodies of the area.
A notice has been served to the herbal food park run by Ramdev at Padartha for releasing untreated industrial affluents into water bodies in the area which are harming the crops," state Pollution Control Board Secretary Vinod Singhal today said.

The herbal food park has been given a 15-day deadline for responding to the notice and asked to keep its activities suspended for the period, the official told .

Samples of the untreated affluents being released by the park into the water bodies in the area have been found to be containing chemicals like Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) much beyond the prescribed limits, he said.

The samples taken by the state PCB following complaints from local farmers contain 210 mg of BOD per litre while the permissible limit is just 30 mg per litre.

Similarly, COD content in the samples is 816 mg per litre while the permissible limit is 350 mg per litre, Singhal said.

If the food park authorities don't respond to the show cause notice within the set time frame of 15 days, they will be served with a closure notice, the PCB secretary said.

The PCB report on the samples of untreated waste from Ramdev's herbal food park has also been submitted to the Haridwar district administration for necessary action, the official said.