Rs 2.56 cr green compensation imposed on 16 polluting units

The Regional Office of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) has imposed a total environmental compensation of Rs 2.56 crore on 16 various units being operated at various locations in the Bahadurgarh area of the district.

All units were found either spreading air pollution or being operational without valid Consent to Establish and Consent to Operate. Some of them did not have an effluent treatment plant (ETP) to treat the effluent generated in the unit.

“These units belonged to washing and dyeing of jeans, reprocessing of plastic being operated in Badsa, Badli, Dariyapur, Deverkhana, Barahi Road and the Rohad area of the district. All 16 units were sealed in the past two months and the environmental compensation has been recommended to the state authorities for further action,” said Shakti Singh, Regional Officer, HSPCB.

He said the units were found being run in violations of rules when local officials of the HSPCB inspected these units. Interestingly, all staff and workers of some of the units ran away after stopping all operations on getting whiff about the inspection by the officials. During the inquiry, it was found that many units had not even obtained the consent to establish and consent to operate from the HSPCB, he added.

“Installation of an ETP is essential for washing and dyeing of jeans units to treat the effluent generated but several such units were found being run without an ETP and the untreated trade effluent was directly being discharged into the nearby drain without any treatment in violation of the rules,” said Shakti.

The RO said all efforts were being made to effectively execute the guidelines issued under the Stage-4 of the graded response action plan (GRAP) to check further deterioration of air quality in the National Capital Region.

“Besides these 16 units, as many as 41 other factories where plastic products were being melted have recently been sealed for not following the norms. The process to calculate environmental compensation to be imposed on these factories has been started while power supply of all such units has also been disconnected. The action has been taken by a joint team of the HSPCB, Town and Country Planning, UHBVN, Police and Panchayat Departments while acting on the complaints in this respect,” Shakti added.