A day after the Supreme Court asked the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to shut down polluting industries on the banks of river Ganga, the tribunal issued directions to the central and state pollution boards to act against such industries.
The tribunal asked the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to place on its website the criteria for defining an industry as ‘seriously polluting’ and ‘not so seriously polluting’ and to categorise them as red, green and orange depending on the pollutants discharged.
The tribunal also asked the CPCB to ensure that all inspection reports of the industries on banks of river Ganga or its tributaries are placed on its website for transparency, and ensuring that they are available to the industries listed as polluting.
Similar directions have been issued to the pollution control boards of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.
The boards have also been told to put the list of industries which have failed to install anti-pollution devices, on its website.
The CPCB and Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board will have to inform the tribunal that the industries earlier closed are not operational. With respect to the tannery industry in Uttar Pradesh, the tribunal directed the state board not to extend the consent given till December 2014 unless the industries are inspected by a joint team of comprising representatives of CPCB, the state board and the environment ministry.
{{/usCountry}}The CPCB and Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board will have to inform the tribunal that the industries earlier closed are not operational. With respect to the tannery industry in Uttar Pradesh, the tribunal directed the state board not to extend the consent given till December 2014 unless the industries are inspected by a joint team of comprising representatives of CPCB, the state board and the environment ministry.
{{/usCountry}}The Supreme Court on Wednesday had asked the tribunal to start the process of closing polluting industries on the bank of Ganga and its tributaries.