E-Paper
CETP pollution penalties soar 88-fold to ₹4.43 crore: RTI
New Delhi: Environmental compensation imposed on Delhi’s common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) surged 88
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New Delhi: Environmental compensation imposed on Delhi’s common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) surged 88.5 times in 2025-26 compared to the previous financial year, with penalties touching ₹4.43 crore, according to information obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC).
The fines imposed on CETPs rose from ₹5 lakh in 2024-25 to ₹4.42 crore in 2025-26, according to an RTI reply. The cumulative environmental compensation imposed on these industrial effluent treatment plants between 2023-24 and 2025-26 stood at ₹5.33 crore, the RTI reply revealed. Environmental activist Amit Gupta had filed an RTI seeking information on environmental compensation charges imposed on CETPs.
The information also showed that separate penalties of ₹22.95 crore were imposed on the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and domestic sewage treatment plants (STPs) through 17 orders.
Of this, ₹18.54 crore was imposed on DJB in February 2025 for failure to provide a sewerage network. Another ₹2.89 crore was imposed on 15 STPs in April 2026, while DJB was penalised ₹1.50 crore in May 2026 over the functioning of the Smriti Van sewage treatment plant in Vasant Kunj.
The RTI reply also revealed that no funds had been allocated to DPCC for cleaning the Yamuna.
Gupta said imposing penalties alone would not revive the Yamuna unless treatment plants were repaired and held accountable for violations.
