Jalandhar civic body fined Rs 25 lakh for flouting rules

JALANDHAR: After its failure to meet deadlines in implementing action plan to manage solid waste at Waryana waste dumping site and continuous violations of the solid waste management rules, Punjab Pollution Control Board chairman Prof Satwinder Singh Marwaha imposed “environmental compensation” of Rs 25 lakh on the Jalandhar municipal corporation.
The compensation would be recovered by encashing bank guarantee of Rs 50 lakh, submitted earlier by the MC. The PPCB chairman has also asked the MC to get Environment Site Assessment (ESA) study prepared by a company of repute within one month to assess groundwater pollution as well as soil pollution caused by the Waryana dump site.
As the decision was issued by the PPCB chairman after granting personal hearing to the MC, he also mentioned its repeated failure to adhere to timelines. The order also mentioned observations and recommendations by the National Green Tribunal (NGT)-appointed monitoring committee after a visit to the site, which were received by the PPCB on January 1, 2020.
The order notes that when PPCB assistant environmental engineer visited the site on February 12 along with an MC official, he found that these recommendations had not been complied with by the MC.
Observing that the Jalandhar MC was intentionally violating various provisions of solid waste management rules and had failed to comply with the decisions of earlier PPCB hearings, its chairman held that the MC and its officers were liable to face legal action under Rules 15 and 17 of the Environment Protection Act.
Apart from levying the environment compensation, the PPCB also directed the Jalandhar MC to ensure that no solid waste would be dumped along the road leading to the dumping site; a proper boundary wall would be provided all around the dumping site within one month; a green belt would be developed around the dump site; a proper effluent treatment plant for leachate generating from dump site would be installed and commissioned within one month.
The PPCB chairman also asked the MC to start work for the management of legacy waste by bio-mining technology by June 30 and to meet the target as per timelines of the action plan of the waste management submitted to the PPCB and to submit monthly progress report in seven days. The pollution watchdog also asked the regional office of PPCB Jalandhar to visit the dump site and submit a detailed report along with compliance in reference.