SHILLONG, July 11 - Meghalaya�s heritage PineWood Hotel and other hotels owned and run by the State Tourism department are facing closure for allegedly failing to install waste water treatment plant and releasing polluted water directly into water bodies, officials said today.
The newly-built State Convention Centre adjacent to Hotel Pinewood, the Orchid Hotel and its Annexe building in Polo Bazaar and the Orchid Lake Resort near the scenic Umiam Lake are among the 35 other privately owned hotels and guest houses that have been issued with closure notices by the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board recently, they said.
�We have issued closure notices to PineWood Hotel and other hotels and guest houses for failing to comply with the standing order of the government. These hotels have failed to install waste water treatment plant to ensure that polluted water are not released directly into the river bodies,� the Board�s member secretary JH Nengnong said.
He said the Board has also directed the government-owned Meghalaya Power Distribution Corporation Limited to ensure power supply to the erring properties be disconnected forthwith.
�We have received the closure notice from the MSPCB and necessary actions will be taken,� a senior official in the MePDCL said.
The order issued in the first week of this month came in the wake of the National Green Tribunal holding the Meghalaya State Pollution Control Board responsible to ensure that waste and polluted water were not released directly into the water bodies, which causes pollution of the Umkhrah and Umshyrpi rivers in the city.
The two rivers originating from the Shillong Peak, pass through the State capital and get highly polluted because of direct discharge of sewage and solid wastes along the way, following which a petition was filed with the NGT. � PTI
