Four dyeing units sealed in Jhajjar village for violating green norms

Ravinder Saini

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Jhajjar, April 7

A recent report of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) has revealed that four dyeing units that operated at Badhsa village here have been sealed in the past over nine months. They were grossly violating environmental norms.

The report has been submitted by the Regional Officer (RO) of the HSPCB to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in this regard. The report was based on a recent inspection of the dyeing units in the village to find out the factual position.

Sources said during the inspection, the units were found operating without obtaining prior consent to establish (CTE)/ consent to operate (CTO) in violation of the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974 and Air (prevention and control of pollution) Act 1981.

“No effluent treatment plant (ETP) was installed there for treating the waste generated from the dyeing and washing process of jeans. Significantly, the untreated trade effluent was also being discharged into a drain having an outfall into the Najafgarh drain, which terminated into Yamuna river,” the sources said.

Varun Gulati, a Delhi-based activist, filed a complaint with the NGT alleging that about 500 very polluted dyeing units, which fall under the ‘red category’ are being operated in residential and non-conforming areas of Badhsa village in Jhajjar, Dheeraj Nagar and Surya Vihar of Faridabad, Bajghera, Dhankot and Dhanwapur and Sector 37 of Gurugram, Pyau Maniyari and Ferozpur Bangar of Sonepat district.

“These units have not installed the ETP or any other anti-pollution devices and are discharging untreated effluents into the open area or in the drains which flow into Yamuna river,” said the complainant.

Taking a serious note of it, the NGT had, on January 3, formed a joint committee comprising representatives of the member secretaries, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and HSPCB and District Magistrates of Jhajjar, Sonepat, Faridabad and Gurugram.

As per the orders, the district magistrates would act as the nodal agency for the work of the committee in the district concerned while a joint committee would carry out the inspection and ascertain the correct ground situation. It would also collect the sample of the discharge by the units and obtain the sample analysis report to take remedial action in accordance with law.

Thereafter, a joint committee for Jhajjar comprising CPCB scientist Rishabh Srivastava, Naib Tehsildar Badli Shekher and Amit, Assistant Environmental Engineer, HSPCB, visited Badhsa village on March 27 to verify the factual position and take appropriate remedial action.

After the inspection, the RO, HSPCB, submitted its report to the NGT recently stating that a unit had been sealed on March 29 and three others were sealed on June 26 last year on being found violating the norms.

Units operating without CTE, CTO

Sources said during the inspection, the units were found operating without obtaining prior consent to establish (CTE)/ consent to operate (CTO) in violation of the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974 and Air (prevention and control of pollution) Act 1981.