Baddi: Polluter-pays-principle to be applied to CETP

Ambika Sharma

Solan, May 28

A suitable environmental compensation would be levied on the Baddi-based common effluent treatment plant (CETP) for causing environmental pollution in the area after leakage in its pipe led to the spillage of untreated industrial effluents on a Baddi road yesterday.

Though the pipeline was repaired by operators by evening, it created massive filth in the area throughout the day. The damage caused to the road, where it was dug up to repair the pipes, failed to be rectified by the staff of the plant.

It created a sinking zone for the vehicles where heavy vehicles, like multi-axle vehicles, were stuck in the morning, creating a traffic jam on both sides near Sikka Hotel. It also exposed the alleged callousness of the plant management in failing to rectify the damaged road, though it charges a hefty amount from the industries for processing the effluents.

The Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial belt houses more than 90 per cent of the state’s industry and thousands of vehicles, including multi-axle vehicles, use the road on a daily basis. A slight impediment in the traffic is enough to create traffic chaos where hundreds of vehicles queue up within no time.

Since the area becomes a traffic choke point, the Barotiwala police had to take an initiative to fill the dug-up road with muck by pressing its vehicles into service.

Three pipes of the CETP, carrying toxic-ridden effluents from various industries for treatment, had leaked on Sunday night, leading to the spillage of a large quantity of effluents on the road near Sikka Hotel in Baddi. The effluents are carried to the plant at Kenduwal where these are treated scientifically.

The flora and fauna of a nearby nullah was also adversely hit as the effluents found their way into the water body after flowing through the drains.

Praveen Gupta, Chief Engineer, State Pollution Control Board, Baddi, said on the basis of the polluter-pays-principle, a suitable environment compensation, based on the quantum of leakage and damage, caused to the environment would be imposed on the CETP for this callousness.