HSPCB slapped with ₹1-cr fine after it fails to send report on plastic waste management

As per the letter issued by Central Pollution Control Board member secretary Prashant Gargava to the chairman of HSPCB, the state’s environment watchdog failed to submit its annual report for the year 2017-18 by April 30, 2019, thus violating the directions of the NGT.

Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), known for penalising violators of environmental norms, has been told to pay a ₹1-crore compensation for disobeying the directions of National Green Tribunal (NGT). They HSPCB did not submit the annual report on the implementation of Plastic Waste Management Rules on time.

The CPCB also issued directions to the HSPCB for taking action against RSL Distilleries Private Limited, Chandrao village, Indri subdivision of Karnal district, for discharging the liquid waste into river Yamuna via ditch drain. (HTArchives)

As per the letter issued by Central Pollution Control Board member secretary Prashant Gargava to the chairman of HSPCB, the state’s environment watchdog failed to submit its annual report for the year 2017-18 by April 30, 2019, thus violating the directions of the NGT.

The letter mentioned that the NGT, in its orders on March 12, 2019, had issued directions of charging hefty compensation from the state pollution control boards if they do not submit the reports over implementation of Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016.

As per NGT orders, all the states and union territories have to ensure that the reports are submitted to the CPCB before April 30, failure of which will result in the defaulting states to pay compensation to the CPCB at the rate of ₹1 crore per month after May 1.

Talking to Hindustan Times, HSPCB member secretary S Narayanan said: “I just got this letter today (Tuesday), but we submitted the report last week and I have taken up the matter with the officials of CPCB and made the request to accept the report. Narayanan said, “The HSPCB only compiles the reports submitted by various government departments. The delay was not on our part, but some departments failed to submit the report on time, thereby delaying the submission of report to the CPCB.”

If the CPCB rejected the request, he said the state government would pay the compensation as the delay was on the part of the government departments and HSPCB did not delay it.

The CPCB also issued directions to the HSPCB for taking action against RSL Distilleries Private Limited, Chandrao village, Indri subdivision of Karnal district, for discharging the liquid waste into river Yamuna via ditch drain.

As per the orders issued by CPCB chairman SP Singh Parihar, an inspection was conducted by the joint team of officials of CPCB and National Environmental Engineering Research Institute in December last year. It was found out that the untreated sewage was flowing into the ditch drain, which merges with river Yamuna near Nabipur in Karnal district.

The CPCB directed that the unit should be kept under surveillance by HSPCB to ensure continuous compliance of environmental norms by the unit. The HSPCB was also told to ensure that industrial effluent is not discharged into river Yamuna and submit action taken report within 30 days.