The Principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in New Delhi has said that the Chairman and Member Secretary of the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) will be held liable if they fail to initiate prosecution and recover compensation from those responsible for the unscientific handling of waste at the dumping site of the Kochi Corporation at Brahmapuram.
The Bench, comprising Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel (Chairperson), Justice S.P. Wangdi (judicial member), and Satyawan Singh Garbyal (expert member), said in its order that the progress (remediation) appeared to be very slow and was disregardful of the statutory and constitutional obligation of providing a clean environment.
“It is the responsibility of the KSPCB to initiate prosecution and recover compensation for such failures, failing which the Chairman and the Member Secretary of the KSPCB may be liable for their failure,” it said.
The tribunal’s order came in the case related to the non-compliance with Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 (SWM Rules, 2016) at the now defunct Brahmapuram solid waste processing plant on the outskirts of Kochi city resulting in environment pollution and impacting public health.
The Principal Bench had taken into consideration the report filed by A.V. Ramakrishna Pillai, chairman of the State Level Monitoring Committee on solid waste management, on the sorry state of affairs at Brahmapuram.
On the government decision to cancel the e-tender for biomining of legacy waste at Brahmapuram, the tribunal asked why there should be a bar on a single tender considering the critical situation.
Other options
The decision to float fresh tenders was taken as only one agency had met the minimum eligibility criteria when an e-tender was floated on March 20. The Bench suggested that other available options be considered for compliance with Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016.
“Even in the case of waste-to-energy plant, it is stated that the retender has been called for similar reason which will be a cause for further delay in the process of environment remediation, which may be appropriately reconsidered,” it said.
The tribunal expressed doubts on whether the leachate generated at the dumping yard could be treated in an ordinary septage treatment plant as it contained heavy metals. This observation was made in reply to the board’s report that the construction of a new leachate collection tank of one-lakh-litre collection capacity was nearing completion.
The leachate will be diverted and collected in the new tank and it is to be treated at the septage treatment plant till the proposed leachate treatment plant turns operational, according to the board.