Industrial units, govt agencies fined Rs 60 lakh in Jhajjar for violation of GRAP
The regional office of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) has imposed a total environment penalty of Rs 60.22 lakh on owners of industrial units and private properties in violation of the instructions issued under the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) to curb further deterioration of the air quality index (AIQ) in the National Capital Region (NCR).
The violations were found by local field officials of the HSPCB during surprise inspections carried out at different places of the district in the past one month. A majority of the violations belong to Bahadurgarh areas, located on the border of Delhi and Haryana, here. Significantly, the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) are also among the violators.
“A total environment compensation of Rs 36.02 lakh has been imposed on owners of the commercial and residential properties besides government agencies after their construction and demolition materials were found lying in the open on 45 different locations of the district. Similarly, 73 industrial units in the Bahadurgarh area were found using diesel generator (DG) sets without the retrofit emission control device (RECD)/ dual fuel arrangement. A total fine of Rs 14.20 lakh has been slapped on them for violating the GRAP instructions,” said Shakti Singh, Regional Officer, HSPCB, Jhajjar.
He said as per the GRAP instructions, the authorities concerned are bound to ensure regular lifting of municipal solid waste, construction and demolition waste and hazardous wastes from dedicated dump sites besides making sure that no waste is dumped illegally in open land areas. It is necessary to store/ contain the construction and demolition materials and waste property and transport it in covered vehicles and recycle these at an appropriate processing facility, he added.
He said the DG sets with a capacity of upto 800 kW must be converted to a dual fuel system (70 per cent gas and 30 per cent diesel) for industrial and other commercial purposes. These must be equipped with the RECDs to meet a minimum PM capturing efficiency of 70 per cent while they could only be used for a maximum of two hours per day during GRAP.
Meanwhile, Pradeep Dahiya, Deputy Commissioner (DC), said since the stage-IV of GRAP was invoked hence the authorities concerned were directed to execute its instructions effectively to check further deterioration of the air quality.
