Aquaculture, a threat to AP environment: NGT meet

Visakhapatnam: Aquaculture in excess of permissible lands and increased use of fertilisers and pesticides have been posing a serious threat to the state’s environment, said Supreme Court judge NV Ramana, who inaugurated a two-day regional conference on environment here on Saturday.

Addressing the delegates, he said aquaculture was taken up only in two lakh acres in 1982 and rose to 13.5 lakh in 1993. This illegal farming is increasing the salinity in the groundwater causing a serious health hazard. He pointed out that not laws and court orders but the responsibility of the people and all the stakeholders would address the critical environmental issues.

Another Supreme Court Judge Justice L. Nageswara Rao, a local, pointed out that if the third cleanest city like Vizag could face environmental issues , the fate of other cities could be understood.

Acting chief Justice, High Court of AP and Telangana Ramesh Ranganathan cautioned that there was a distant threat of submergence due to climate change. He said Mumbai, Chennai and parts of Odisha might submerge in the sea if serious efforts were not made to control the pollution.``There could be environmental refugees if the cities submerge in the sea,’’ he cautioned.

Chairperson of National Green Tribunal Swatanter Kumar, who presided over the proceedings, suggested urgent measures to protect the environment and involvement of all the stake holders.He said global temperature has been rising and 2016 was marked as the hottest year since 1901 with eight months of the year experiencing severe heat conditions.

He said the glaciers were melting and alerted that due to rise in the sea level Maldives, Fiji and Seychelles could disappear from the world map.Senior judges and officials were present during the inaugural session.