Video Editor: Varun Sharma
After the the high-profile weddings of two sons of South Africa-based businessmen Gupta brothers, the ski resort of Auli in Uttarakhand has been cleaned, top officials of the Joshimath municipality said on Sunday, 30 June.
“Auli is totally clean now. We have picked up all the garbage and cleaned all the pit sewage,” said S.P. Nautiyal, the Executive Officer of the Joshimath Municipality, IANS reported.
Quintals of garbage was left behind after the high-profile Gupta family weddings last week at Auli.
The nuptials held by the controversial NRIs from South Africa cost around Rs 200 crore.
The municipality has also slapped a fine of Rs 2.5 lakh on Gupta brothers for scattering garbage and defecating in open in the picturesque mountain resort where the weddings were held last week.
Rs 1 lakh was slapped for defecating in open, and Rs 1.5 lakh is the penalty for scattering garbage, Nautiyal said.
Over 400 quintals of waste was collected from the wedding site with the municipality deputing 7-8 trucks to clean it. The officials had last week asserted that Auli will be cleaned by 30 June.
Ajay Gupta's son Suryakant got married through 18-20 June and his younger brother Atul Gupta's son Shashank got married through 20-22 June.
Almost all the hotels and resorts in Auli were booked for the wedding guests. The decoration flowers were imported from Switzerland.
No environmental damage was reported during the wedding.
In accordance with the Nainital High Court’s order, the Gupta family had already deposited Rs 3 crore with the Chamoli district authorities.
Following the High Court order, a team of officials including officials from Forest Department, State Pollution Control Board, Chamoli District Administration, Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan, Revenue Department and the Public Works Department, kept an eye on the festivities. They also videographed the wedding.
The officials said there were no environmental issues concerning the wedding extravaganza and the Auli marriage site will be cleaned by June 30. Nearly 30 workers are engaged in the cleaning operations.
Before the wedding, the court had fixed the upper limit of guests to attend the wedding at 150. Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, Baba Ramdev, Katrina Kaif and Sidharth Malhotra were among the VIPs who attended the wedding.
(With inputs from IANS)
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