The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the Uttar Pradesh government to reply within a week as to why an environmental compensation should not be levied on it for failing to comply with orders pertaining to the discharge of untreated sewage water into the Ganga.
Compensation
A Bench headed by NGT acting chairperson Jawad Rahim on April 4 directed officials and authorities to “show cause why they not be directed to pay environmental compensation for non-compliance of the directions issued to them earlier. Further, to show cause why the tribunal should not direct prosecution of all these respondents in accordance with law.”
Earlier, the green panel had issued show cause notices and said “environment and public health does not fall in the govt’s priority list” as it was “undisputed” that the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board and the civic bodies had taken no action to prepare action plans pertaining to the cleaning of the river.
Authorities rapped
The tribunal also rapped the authorities for not complying with the orders issued by the panel in December 2016.
The directions came while the NGT was hearing a plea filed by the Central Pollution Control Board.
The Board sought directions to the UPPCB and the CEOs of the municipal councils to “prepare a plan of action to clean the Ganga and water bodies in a time-bound manner and recover the cost of preparation and execution of such plan of action from the polluters.”
