Failure to harvest rain water despite repeated warnings and opportunities forced the National Green Tribunal on Monday to impose fines between Rs. 2 lakh and Rs.5 lakh on 11 hospitals and directing disciplinary action against official of one government hospital.
The NGT imposed a fine of Rs.5 lakh on Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and the Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute and Research Centre after an inspection team constituted by the Tribunal found that the rain water harvesting system was not in order.
Disciplinary action
Hospitals that were fined Rs. lakh each include Shanti Mukund Hospital, Metro Hospital and Cancer Institute, Sunder Lal Jain Charitable Hospital, Rockland Hospital, MGS Super Specialty Hospital, Bensups Hospital, City Hospital, Deepak Memorial Hospital, and Kukreja Hospital & Heart Centre.
The Tribunal also directed disciplinary action against officials of Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital responsible for rain water harvesting,
An inspection team constituted by the NGT and comprising the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), the Delhi Jal Board, etc., had found the hospitals to be non-compliant.
At some places, the rain water harvesting system was not functioning properly or designed correctly, while at other hospitals, silt and garbage was found in the pits.
The CEO of Metro Hospital and Cancer Institute said: “The hospital had installed rain water harvesting system and has been complying with the NGT order. The size of the pit was small and we are rectifying it.”
The authorities at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital here said: “The hospital has been fined for alleged non-compliance with the guidelines laid down by the National Green Tribunal, wherein one of the rain water harvesting well was not constructed as per specifications, as reported by Tribunal’s inspection committee. The hospital has since complied with the guidelines and filed an affidavit to this effect.”
The Tribunal has been hearing an application filed by environmental activist Vikrant Tongad, who had initiated a case against the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation for not harvesting rain water.
Later, hospitals and malls were also included in the matter by the Tribunal.
The NGT has time and again noted that these hospitals had not installed effective and functioning rain water harvesting systems in their respective premises despite service of notices.
The hospitals were also found to have “incorrectly claimed” that they had installed such systems and the same were functioning effectively.
Their failure to respond to the Tribunal show cause notices forced it to issue bailable warrants against the medical superintendents in December last year.
The environmental activist added: “It is defiance of a court’s orders if the hospitals are not installing effective rain water harvesting systems. Also, we need to now check hospitals in the NCR too.”