A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel
slammed the Tamil Nadu government over poor pre-monsoon preparedness and asked
its Public Works Department to deposit the amount within 15 days with the
Central Pollution Control Board.
Chennai| Press Trust of India | Updated: November 10, 2018
08:03 IST
New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal has slapped a penalty
of Rs. 2 crore on the Tamil Nadu government over the inordinate delay in
removal of the encroachments along and prevention of pollution of Adyar and
Cooum rivers in Chennai.
A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel
slammed the state government over poor pre-monsoon preparedness and asked its
Public Works Department to deposit the amount within 15 days with the Central
Pollution Control Board.
The tribunal directed the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary to look
into the matter directly and ensure that the steps are taken on an urgent basis
in the interest of the environment and the people.
"On perusal of the reports of the Principal Secretary,
Public Works Department, Tamil Nadu, we find that it is replete with vagueness
and no instances of tangible action taken for mitigation of the problems having
been stated. In so far as the work on the Buckingham Canal is concerned, it
appears to have been taken under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal
Mission Scheme and only administrative sanction for estimated amount of Rs.
603.67 crore appears to have been obtained. That apart, we find action taken
for pre-monsoon preparedness for the years 2017 and 2018 have been placed at an
estimated at the cost of Rs. 70 lakh and Rs. 80.50 lakh respectively but the
works undertaken appears only to be removal of floating materials," the
bench said.
The green panel said that the report on removal of the
encroachments was equally disappointing as it states that out of total 26,300
encroachments taken together, only 408 have been evicted leaving the balance of
25,892 encroachments still to be dealt with.
The NGT refused to agree with the submission that the delay
in the removal of encroachments was due to pending litigations and said the
"answer is absolutely vague as no particulars have been furnished as
regards the number of the encroachers who have approached the courts and its
present status".
The tribunal's order
came while hearing a bunch of pleas relating to pollution of Adyar and Cooum
rivers in Chennai and Buckingham Canal.
The plea alleged that there was uncontrolled discharge of
effluent from different industries and untreated sewage directly into the
water, besides encroachment on the banks of the rivers by construction of
different structures.
https://www.ndtv.com/chennai-news/tamil-nadu-fined-rs-2-crore-over-delay-in-removal-of-encroachments-along-chennai-rivers-1945152
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