13 illegal denim dyeing units in Sonepat served notices

Mukesh Tandon

Advertisement

Sonepat, June 8

The Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) has served show-cause notices to 13 illegal jeans dyeing units operational in the Ferozepur Bangar area of Kharkhoda in the district, reportedly for violating pollution norms and discharging effluents without treatment in the open.

Were operational SANS permission

• These units were running without the consent to operate and valid permission for the extraction of groundwater from the Haryana Water Resources Authority
• According to the complainant, these units had no effluent treatment plant and were discharging effluents directly into drains, which was also a big reason for pollution in the Yamuna

Delhi-based environmentalist Varun Gulati had filed a complaint in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) alleging that over 500 dyeing units were operating in the residential and non-confirming areas — Dheeraj Nagar and Surya Vihar of Faridabad district; Friends Colony, Pyau Maniyari, Ferozpur Bangar of Sonepat district; Bajghera, Dhankot, Dhanwapur and Sector 37 of Gurugram and Badsa village of Jhajjar district and Nizampur in Bahadurgarh.

He said the dyeing units were under the ‘red category’ and were grossly polluting industries. These were running without the consent to operate (CTO) and the consent to establishment (CTE) and without valid permission for the extraction of groundwater from the Haryana Water Resources Authority (HWRA).

Following the complaint, the NGT had on January 5 constituted a joint panel to probe the violation of environment laws by illegal dyeing units for discharging untreated effluents into drains in the NCR border districts of the state — Faridabad, Sonepat, Jhajjar and Gurugram. The HSPCB failed to conduct inspection and instead sought a two months time from the NGT to complete inspection.

Following the NGT’s directions, a team led by Assistant Environment Engineer Amit Dahiya conducted a survey in the Ferozepur Bangar area and found 13 illegal denim dyeing and washing units operational.

Dahiya said these units failed to show any valid consent from the pollution board, including the CTE and the CTO during inspection.