Closure action recommended against 6 polluting units in Rewari

The regional office of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) has made a recommendation for the closure of six factories to the state authorities after finding these not complying with air pollution norms.

An environmental compensation of over Rs 30 lakh has been imposed on various government offices, industrial units and owners of private properties in the district in the past over a month in violations of the guidelines issued under the graded response action plan (GRAP), said Harish Sharma, Regional Officer (RO), HSPCB.

“Our teams had conducted random inspections in the district and found five industrial units (the majority of them were scrap melting factories), not following pollution norms. The units neither have pollution control devices nor were these following other norms. These units are located in Bawal, Dharuhera and Rewari. The units were issued show- cause notices but none of these submitted a reply forcing us to make recommendations to the state authorities for their closure,” said the RO.

Sharma said at present, the units were stopped from functioning and further action would be taken after the approval of the closure action by the state authorities. Every industrial unit was bound to install all required devices to check air pollution, he added.

He claimed that a total penalty of Rs 9.80 lakh was imposed on the owners of four building construction sites after the team found violations of the instructions pertaining to construction and demolition activities. Two of the sites were located in Rewari and Dharuhera town.

“Similarly, a fine of Rs 80,000 was imposed on the HSIIDC authorities in Bawal, Rs 25,000 on the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and Rs 5,000 on the Deputy Director (Agriculture) after solid waste and garbage was found burning in their office and area concerned,” said the RO, adding that a total 40 DG sets were sealed for the violations of the GRAP instructions.

Sharma pointed out that all government agencies/officers, including HSIIDC, HSVP, PWD and Urban Local bodies were asked to ensure strict compliance of the GRAP instructions in their area concerned.

“All such agencies/ departments have also formed their own teams as per the directives of the Deputy Commissioner for the compliance of the GRAP instructions. Besides these, three teams of the HSPCB are also monitoring the situation in the district,” he added.