Notices to 14 illegal dyeing, washing units at Kundli

Mukesh Tandon

Sonepat, June 27

A joint team of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), UHBVN and MC, Kundli, conducted an inspection and found 14 illegal denim dyeing and washing units operational in Kundli area. The board prepared details of the units and served show-cause notices on them.

A Delhi-based environmentalist, Varun Gulati, had filed a complaint with the National Green Tribunal (NGT), alleging that over 500 dyeing units were operating in residential and non-conforming areas — Dheeraj Nagar and Surya Vihar (Faridabad district); Friends Colony, Pyau Maniyari and Ferozpur Bangar (Sonepat district); Bajghera, Dhankot, Dhanwapur and Sector-37 of Gurugram; Badsa village of Jhajjar district; and Nizampur of Bahadurgarh.

He said the units were under the ‘red category’ (grossly polluted industries) and were running without consent to operate (CTO) and consent to establishment (CTE) and without valid permission for extraction of ground water from the Haryana Water Resources Authority. (HWRA).

Following the complaint, the NGT constituted a joint panel to probe the violation of environment laws by the discharge of effluents in drains by illegal units in the NCR border districts of the state — Faridabad, Sonepat, Jhajjar and Gurugram.

A team led by Assistant Environment Engineer Amit Dahiya conducted a survey in the Kundli area yesterday and found 14 illegal units.

The units did not have valid CTE and CTO issued by the HSPCB, he said. They also had no effluent treatment plant and were discharging effluents directly into the drains.

Dahiya said 40 such units had been identified, of which 13 were found in Ferozpur Bangar area, Kharkhoda, while 27 were operational in Kundli area.

Gulati said the complaint was against illegal units in Sonepat, Faridabad, Gurugram, Bahadurgarh and Jhajjar, but action was initiated only by the HSPCB team in Sonepat district.

Pradeep Singh, Regional Officer, HSPCB, said notices would be served on the units and later, closure action would be initiated.