NGT Directs UP To Constitute Shrine Board For Temples In Govardhan, Mathura District, Within 15 Days

The Uttar Pradesh government has been directed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to enact a legislation to form a shrine board for the three temples in the pilgrimage town of Govardhan in Mathura district and get it approved within 15 days, Times of India has reported.

According to the report, the NGT directed the state government to take up the bill in the next session of the Assembly and get it approved within the time-frame expected by the panel.

The NGT direction came in the wake of UP additional chief secretary, AK Awasthi, informing a bench headed by Justice Raghuvendra S Rathore that a draft concerning the formation of a shrine board has been prepared and processed through inter-department consultation and that now it has to be placed before the state cabinet.

He said that some information regarding the assets of the three temples - Jatipura, Dhangati and Mansi Ganga - is still awaited from the receivers who manage the shrines.

The NGT, in view of the urgency of the matter, then ordered the receivers to send the requisite information to the additional chief secretary within a week.

Awasthi also told the NGT that the construction of a 10.4 km-long ring road would be completed by 31 October. The green panel, in response, warned that, “in case the ring road is not completed by the said date then, the concerning officer shall be made accountable and appropriate orders will be passed against him".