Garbage output doubled in Auli after the 200-crore wedding of the son of South African business tycoon
They came, they celebrated and they left behind 4000 Kg of garbage!
From million-dollar decorations to performances by Bollywood stars such as Katrina Kaif—this Gupta wedding was a highly publicized affair in the last few days. The wedding of Suryakant, son of South African business magnet Ajay Gupta, took place in Auli from June 19 to 20. The wedding of his other son, Shashank, took place from June 20 to 22.
The overall amount spent on the weddings crossed 200-crore. Clearly, the lavishly planned wedding had top-class arrangements—flowers from Switzerland, Yoga sessions by Baba Ramdev, who was also one of the guests in the weddings, choppers to take the guests to their hotel—the list is long.
Now, here is the part which should be most expected from these two marriages—the garbage output went beyond 4000 Kgs after the celebrations were over. Yes, no measures were taken by the organizers of the wedding to deal with the after-effect of the wedding.
“Plastic packets and bottles are lying everywhere. Our cows go for grazing in the area daily. What if they consume plastic? Who would take the responsibility? The situation here is really pathetic," a local told a source.
Even the chief minister of Uttarakhand, Mr. Trivendra Singh Rawat contended before the wedding that there was no fear from hosting the event in the state. He added that such a high-class wedding would only add in the enhancement of the state.
Shailendra Singh, the chairman of Nagar Maha Palika Parishad of Joshimath said that the daily garbage output before both the weddings was about 20 quintals. However, after the celebrations were done, the output was just doubled—up to 40 quintals.
Supervisor of the Nagar Mahapalika, Mr. Anil has been given the task of clearing the area from the waste.
“The wedding has created a waste problem in the hill station. The garbage has surpassed 40 quintals," one of the team members told a source.
Activist-environmentalist and lawyer, Abhijay Negi, who is also the resident of Uttarakhand, spoke to a source, ““Several places in Uttarakhand are already commercialized and they have lost their natural essence. But there are few areas which are untouched. There are green meadows, which are comparable to Scottish highlands lie in upper Garhwal which starts from Auli. At this time of the year, Auli particularly has a very picturesque view. While Uttarakhand is natural resource rich, but when it comes to monetary resource, it is quite deprived.”
After petition filed by environmental lawyer Rakshit Joshi, the High Court of Uttarakhand put across certain questions across the state government. A bench of Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice Alok Kumar Verma asked about who “Who provided the chopper landing permission to the Gupta family in Auli?”
The High Court also asked the Guptas to deposit a security amount of Rs. 3 Crore for all the environmental and ecological damage done to the area. The first installment of the money was due on June 21.
Gupta Brothers are known to be quite controversial figures in the past. They sanctioned a military airport to ferry the guests to a family wedding. Also, they are known to have close relationships with former South African Jacob Zuma.
