The State Pollution Control Board (PCB) has plans to shoot and share real-time video clips of environmental violations with the local bodies concerned to sensitise the public and officials on the need to abide by the rules and regulations.
The move comes amidst the increasing incidents of violations of various key provisions of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016; Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974; Environment Protection Act, 1986; Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981; Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016; and Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016.
The video documentation of the violations would create awareness among the local bodies and the public in general, especially in view of the stringent directives being issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Kerala High Court on ensuring the implementation of various environmental laws across the State, pointed out senior officials of the board.
Besides creating awareness, the video clips would act as a deterrent against the growing trend of violations such as dumping of biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste in the open; unscientific handling of biomedical waste; and poor management of the plastic waste, they said.
The board has pointed out that the cooperation of multiple government departments and local bodies was required to implement various waste management rules in the State. Despite repeated efforts, the situation has not improved as expected going by the assessments made in recent times. A follow-up on the action taken by the local bodies on the video clips shared will be done on a periodical basis. The video documentation will also be shared with the Departments of Local Self-Government and Environment respectively.
The proposal to capture the violations comes close on the observations by the NGT on the continuing lethargy on the part of the government to act tough against the violations. The southern bench of the tribunal had said in March that its directives on ensuring compliance of waste management rules had fallen on deaf ears.