Hotels polluting Puri beach raided

Puri, Apr 26 (UNI) The district administration has launched a surprise raid on four hotels along the beach to inspect their sewerage and waste water disposal system.

The raid was conducted yesterday on the allegations that most hotels along the beach were releasing untreated sewage and waste water to the beach causing pollution.

The team, led by Sub-Collector Bijay Naik, civic body Executive Officer Gangadhar Panda, engineers from the Public Health Department and the Puri Konark Development Authority(PKDA) along with Beach Protection Council president Jagannath Bastia, found hotels releasing waste to the beach through secret underground pipes.

Earlier, in January the authority had identified 17 'polluting' hotels located on the beach and registered criminal cases against them and holiday homes.

Official sources said fines would be imposed on these hotels for illegal drain and sewerage pipe connections which would be demolished soon.

UNI XC-DP PL YA ND1742