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River of plastic in Himalayas sparks outrage in India

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A video shows the river Ashwini Khud covered entirely with a distressing amount of floating garbage packed in plastic bags.

Ashwini Khud supplies drinking water to several cities in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.

The clip was made by Abhay Sharma, a resident of Solan, on July 2.

Abhay was near the khud on that day when it started raining heavily. “In just a few minutes, Ashwani khud turned into a river of plastic,’’ he said.

The video, shared by Healing Himalayas, a non-profit organisation working to clean up the Himalayas, triggered widespread outrage and prompted India’s top environment court National Green Tribunal (NGT) to order an investigation on July 19.

A seven-member committee investigated the incident and has reportedly blamed Shimla Municipal Corporation and the Solan Municipal Council for polluting Ashwani Khud.

The report – which is yet to be officially released – reportedly suggests that Solan Municipal Council trucks dumped four tonnes of solid waste on July 1 and 2.

Ashwani Khud, instead of carrying them to a solid waste treatment centre.

The inquiry has also found Shimla MC has been dumping plastic waste in several areas, which eventually gets washed down to Ashwani Khud when it rains.

Pradeep Sangwan of Healing Himalayas said the water quality of Ashwani Khud has deteriorated over the years.

Shimla MC stopped lifting water from the Ashwani Khud in 2015 following a jaundice outbreak. But Solan Municipal Council still gets water from this river after treatment.

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