The Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB) has sought details regarding registered hotels and resorts along the Ganga river in Haridwar and Rishikesh from four district magistrates. The report will ascertain whether any hotels or resorts are dumping untreated sewage in Ganga. In addition to this, notices were also issued by the board for closing down a hotel and a resort in Rishikesh for contaminating the river. The matter of untreated sewage and effluent from Ashrams, hotels and industrial units contaminating the Ganga from Rishikesh to Haridwar is set for hearing in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on May 22. Meanwhile, the UEPPCB is taking necessary action on polluters, said the board’s member secretary Vinod Singhal. Different areas of the stretch of the Ganga from Rishikesh to Haridwar fall in four districts — Dehradun, Haridwar, Tehri and Pauri. Taking action on the matter of dumping of untreated sewage and effluent in the Ganga from Rishikesh to Haridwar, the UEPPCB has written to the four district magistrates seeking details of all hotels and resorts in the area registered under the Sarai Act. According to Singhal, the board has sought these details to confirm whether any of these are dumping untreated sewage in the Ganga. The board is taking necessary action against contamination of the Ganga with explanations also being sought from three hotels and two industrial enterprises including BHEL in Haridwar and Rishikesh. On May 15, the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited was sent a notice by the board to terminate the electricity connection of a hotel and a resort in Rishikesh in order to close these down for contaminating the Ganga. With the NGT taking up the issue, the UEPPCB had earlier this year conducted a survey and ascertained that 17 out of 22 major ashrams in Rishikesh and Haridwar were dumping untreated sewage into the Ganga. The remaining five ashrams were found to have secured connection with the Haridwar sewage treatment plant though this treatment plant is said to be in need of upgradation.