Haryana govt, HSPCB earn NGT’s wrath over stone crushers

New Delhi, March 27

The Haryana government and the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) have earned the wrath of the National Green Tribunal for submitting incomplete status report on number of stone crushers operating in Faridabad district of the state.

A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar pulled up the pollution control board for taking “possibly longest possible period” to comply with the orders of the tribunal, “which still has not been complied within its entirety”.

It also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the officers of the board who filed the status report which would be deducted from their salaries in three equal instalments.

“From the inspection reports filed before us, it is evident that the officers of the board are failing to perform their duties in accordance with law and as per requirements of the environmental jurisprudence.

“It is strange that they have not even cared to notice that what is the source of water, what is the source of raw material, what are the noise levels, how much is the working area of the unit, the requirement of the water sprinklers and what is the real impact on the ambient air quality of the area,” the bench said.

The tribunal directed that in future all inspection reports should be comprehensive with proper analysis and every inspection be videographed.

During the hearing, the counsel for Haryana government informed the bench that of 87 other stone crushers the team has already inspected 52 out of which 14 have been found to be non-complying and polluting.

On this, the tribunal directed closure of all the 14 stone crushers operating in the area.

Earlier, the green bench had directed Faridabad Municipal Corporation, HSPCB and a senior officer from forest department to conduct inspection of the stone crushers operating in the area.

Slamming the officers of the board for causing repeated adjournments, it said, “It is unfortunate that the officers present in court before the tribunal are unable to give a reason as to why the inspection report, it was not recorded that the ambient air quality samples have been taken or not and why in the analysis reports have not been placed before the tribunal.

“We are constrained to observe that the officers concerned have failed to perform their duties which are statutory and public obligation would demand greater sense of responsibility while conducting an inspection,” it said.

The observations came while hearing a petition filed by Divesh Bhutani who had approached the tribunal against the stone crushers operating in the area and the pollution being caused by them. — PTI