Jaipur: A fortnight after National Green Tribunal (NGT) imposed an interim compensation of Rs 100 crore on Rajasthan government for damages caused to the environment, Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) has come up with a slew of remedial measures for the Dravyavati River Project.
The civic body is all set to resume services of the existing common effluent treatment plant, which has been lying defunct, at Sanganer. “We are also going to determine land use norms on both sides of the river in Sanganer area and may put some restrictions. We will also start a treatment plant that would allow only treated water to flow into the river,” said JDA commissioner Ravi Jain.
Officials said that following NGT’s order, chief secretary Usha Sharma called a meeting of senior officials of JDA and the state pollution control board. “The pollution control board has also been asked to adopt certain measures. The government is likely to send an appeal to NGT to waive off the interim compensation it ordered. This is because the government is taking several remedial actions following the order,” said a senior official.
On April 20, the principal bench of NGT imposed an interim compensation of Rs 100 crore on the state government for damaging the environment, including pollution in the Dravyavati river caused by textile printing industries in Jaipur district. NGT’s order came during the hearing of two combined applications that raised concerns on textile printing industries violating environmental norms in Sanganer. It was alleged that these violations adversely affected the water quality of the river and the quality of vegetables and other crops grown on nearby farms.
NGT had formed a 10-member joint committee to plan and oversee remedial action and ordered that this compensation amount is to be utilised for restoration of the environment.
The bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel (chairperson), Justice Sudhir Agarwal, Dr A Senthil Vel and Dr Afroz Ahmad (expert members) said, “It seems there is no environmental rule of law in the area. This calls for an emergent action in a mission mode at a higher level to remedy the situation and fix accountability for failure of the administration in collusion with law violators. The erring industries operating without consents or in violation of conditions need to be stopped and held accountable…”
The civic body is all set to resume services of the existing common effluent treatment plant, which has been lying defunct, at Sanganer. “We are also going to determine land use norms on both sides of the river in Sanganer area and may put some restrictions. We will also start a treatment plant that would allow only treated water to flow into the river,” said JDA commissioner Ravi Jain.
Officials said that following NGT’s order, chief secretary Usha Sharma called a meeting of senior officials of JDA and the state pollution control board. “The pollution control board has also been asked to adopt certain measures. The government is likely to send an appeal to NGT to waive off the interim compensation it ordered. This is because the government is taking several remedial actions following the order,” said a senior official.
On April 20, the principal bench of NGT imposed an interim compensation of Rs 100 crore on the state government for damaging the environment, including pollution in the Dravyavati river caused by textile printing industries in Jaipur district. NGT’s order came during the hearing of two combined applications that raised concerns on textile printing industries violating environmental norms in Sanganer. It was alleged that these violations adversely affected the water quality of the river and the quality of vegetables and other crops grown on nearby farms.
NGT had formed a 10-member joint committee to plan and oversee remedial action and ordered that this compensation amount is to be utilised for restoration of the environment.
The bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel (chairperson), Justice Sudhir Agarwal, Dr A Senthil Vel and Dr Afroz Ahmad (expert members) said, “It seems there is no environmental rule of law in the area. This calls for an emergent action in a mission mode at a higher level to remedy the situation and fix accountability for failure of the administration in collusion with law violators. The erring industries operating without consents or in violation of conditions need to be stopped and held accountable…”
