Green Tribunal gives Haryana pollution board 8 weeks to submit report on illegal dyeing units

Tribune News Service

Bijendra Ahlawat

Faridabad, April 8

The Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) authorities have sought more time for the submission of the final compliance report of the action taken against the illegal dyeing units in the city and parts of the NCR.

Inspection done despite incomplete team

• Though the HSPCB in its reply claimed that inspection work had already been done at some places, it could not start in Faridabad due to the non-availability of the representative of the CPCB.
• It was submitted that inspections of all sites or locations provided by the applicant had been conducted despite non-availability of the complete team.
• “A majority of the units inspected had either been found locked or dismantled, it is claimed.

Units still functional: Complainant

Varun Gulati, who lodged a fresh complaint based on a drone survey, claimed that several illegal units were still functional and the report submitted had been misleading. The NGT agreed to provide another two months to the HSPCB for the submission of the final report, says Mansi Chahal, advocate of the petitioner.

In a recent hearing, the NGT in response to a petition lodged by a resident, Varun Gulati, allowed eight weeks’ time for the submission of the report, though the HSPCB claimed that action against such units had already begun. In the complaint lodged last year, it was alleged that a large number of highly polluting ‘red category’ dying units had been operating in Dheeraj Nagar, Surya Vihar, in Faridabad, Bajghera, Dhankot, Dhanwapur and Sector 37 in Gurugram, Badsa village in Jhajjar and Friends Colony, Pyau Manihari and Ferozpur Bangar in Sonepat district in Haryana. “More than 500 dying units were operating in the residential and non-conforming areas in an illegal manner resulting in acute pollution,” said Varun Gulati in his complaint. He further said the units had failed to set up a sewage treatment plant (STP) or an effluent treatment plant (ETP) or other anti-pollution devices resulting in discharge of untreated and toxic effluents in the open or in drains. This was posing a serious health risk to a population of several lakhs. Ease of electricity connections from the DHBVN and inaction on part of the administration had been described as a major reason behind the menace.

In its earlier order delivered in January this year, the NGT sought the constitution of a joint committee comprising representatives of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), HPSCB, offices of the DC’s of Faridabad, Sonepat, Gurugram and Jhajjar. While the DC office had been made the nodal agency, the joint committee had been asked to conduct inspection at the ground level, collect samples and take remedial action in accordance with law. The committee had been asked to complete the said exercise within a period of three months and was to submit the action-taken Report (ATR) before April 5.

Though the HSPCB in its reply claimed that inspection work had already been done at some places, it could not start in Faridabad due to the non-availability of the representative of the CPCB. It was submitted that inspections of all sites or locations provided by the applicant had been conducted despite non-availability of the complete team. “A majority of the units inspected had either been found locked or dismantled, it is claimed.

However, Varun Gulati who lodged a fresh complaint based on a drone survey, claimed that several illegal units were still functional and the report submitted had been misleading. The NGT agreed to provide another two months to the HSPCB for the submission of the final report, says Mansi Chahal, advocate of the petitioner.

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