The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed an environmental compensation of ₹10 lakh on a hotel in Himachal Pradesh for causing ‘irretrievable damage to the ecology’ by raising unauthorised construction.
A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Swatanter Kumar directed Hotel Barog Heights to demolish the illegal structure within four weeks. “Such constructions need to be demolished to prevent further degradation of environment and ecology in the area and also to ensure that undue pressure is not put on the natural resources causing scarcity of resources like water.”
Rainwater harvesting
Further, the green panel directed the hotel to install rainwater harvesting systems to store and reuse the rainwater appropriately. The hotel has also been asked to ensure that water from the sewage treatment plant be recycled for gardening and other non-potable uses. The applicant, Society for Preservation of Kasauli had alleged that large scale commercial activity in Kasauli was affecting the ecology in adverse ways and had demanded a regulation on the construction of hotels in the area.
Further, the Himachal Pradesh Pollution Control Board alleged that the hotel was operating without obtaining the necessary permissions.
