Hyderabad High Court on Thursday directed the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to explain within 24 hours the steps being taken to prevent further pollution of Patancheru-Bollarum areas on the fringes of Hyderabad.
A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice Ramesh Ranganathan passed the order. It gave the direction while hearing a petition filed by Dr. Reddy Laboratories Limited seeking permission to expand its unit at IDA Bollarum, in Sangareddy district.
The Bench expressed displeasure over conflicting orders given by different organisations on the matter over the past few years. Counsel for the company Raghunandan maintained that earlier the Chennai-based National Green Tribunal had permitted industrial units like Reddy Laboratories to expand operations by installing effluent treatment plants with Zero Liquid Discharge along with other facilities. However, the Union Ministry contended that the pollution levels were too high and prohibited further industrialisation of the area. The decision was supported through an order issued in 2017 by the principal bench of NGT. Citing these orders, the lawyer appealed to the Bench to vacate the moratorium obstructing expansion of units. The Judges asked for the details about the assessment report supposed to have been furnished by the Central Pollution Control Board. The authorities were to take a decision on the matter based on the report. As Assistant Solicitor General K. Lakshman explained the government stand, the Bench showered questions on him on the present status of the study.
“The delay by officials is turning out to be costly. Officials concerned should be made to bear expenditure from their pockets,” the Bench observed. Expressing discontentment over the response of the Environment Ministry officials, the Bench said the Green Tribunal would turn brown if matters were dragged for so long.
“....We have to equip ourselves with black belts to control you and to tackle the destruction of green belts,” the Bench remarked. The Bench turned down the request of the ASG for more time to file explanation. “Let them send a reply through an email by tomorrow,” it said.
