The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday constituted a committee headed by former Delhi High Court judge to look into the matter of over 50,000 industries in the Capital that are allegedly running illegally in residential areas.
A Bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel directed the committee to assume charge within two weeks and specified that accountability for making the committee functional will lie with Delhi Chief Secretary and the Chairman of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee.
The Bench has also directed the Delhi Development Authority, Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC), DPCC and civic bodies to nominate officers “of high competence and seniority who can devote time in the work.”
“The mandate of the committee will be to take stock of the extent of violation of law and prepare a time-bound action plan to deal with it. The committee may also make realistic assessment of compensation for damage already caused and cost of reversing the damage,” the Bench added.
Further, the bench directed the Delhi Police to provide the required security to the committee while they are on inspection of the industries.
“The committee may have the target of remitting air and water pollution by closing the industries operating in violation,” the NGT Bench also said.
The directions came after the green panel took cognisance of a media report, which stated that the DSIIDC had listed over 51,000 polluting industries that were running illegally across the Capital in residential or non-conforming areas.
