UPPCB, Cantonment Board to pay for Mathura pollution: NGT
14 April 2017 5:30 PM GMT
The UP pollution control board (UPPCB) and Mathura Cantonment Board have been directed by the National Green Tribunal to pay Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh respectively for causing pollution in the temple town.
"The problem of MSW is not confined to Mathura Cantonment Board or Mathura city but it is a national problem. It requires collective, progressive and effective steps to be taken before the MSW is managed and disposed of in accordance with the law in force," a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar said.
The green panel castigated UPPCB and the Cantonment Board, which works as a municipal body, for failing in their constitutional duties and causing continuous air and water pollution.
"We have no hesitation in holding that the UPPCB as well as the Mathura Cantonment Board have miserably failed to protect the environment and discharge their statutory and public law obligation in accordance with the law in force. For this reason, they are liable to pay Environmental Compensation (EC) in terms of Section 15 and 17 of the NGT Act.
"Thus, we direct that UPPCB shall pay Rs 5 lakh as EC while Cantonment Board shall pay Rs 10 lakh for causing continuous air, water, ground water pollution... They have also failed to seek permission for the use of trenching ground under the law in force and operating it without the consent of the Board or without any authorisation and in complete violation and disregard of the Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules, 2016," the NGT said.
It also directed both the authorities to pay the compensation to the Central Pollution Control Board within two weeks and asked the Board to submit application for consent to operate and for authorisation within two weeks to the UPPCB.
NGT slaps Rs 50 L fine on Tehri Hydro Development Corporation
Development does not mean destroying nature, the National Green Tribunal has said while slapping an environment compensation of Rs 50 lakh on Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC) for throwing debris of its Vishnugad Pipalkoti Hydro Electric Project in the Alaknanda river.
Coming down heavily on THDC, a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar, held it responsible for polluting the river and restrained it from throwing any "muck, soil and stones" by carrying out blasting in the floodplains of the water body.
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