NGT directs Ludhiana MC to deposit Rs 100 cr for victims, relief measures

Harshraj Singh

Ludhiana, July 26

In a hut fire incident wherein seven persons of a family were charred to death near the Municipal Corporation’s main garbage dumpsite in April, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the MC to deposit Rs 100 crore with the District Magistrate. The Bench, headed by Adarsh Kumar Goel, issued this order on Monday.

The NGT ordered that the Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana, must deposit Rs 100 crore within a month towards interim compensation and for remedial measures as per the report overseen by a monitoring committee. The NGT said if the MC was unable to make such deposit, it could be done by the state government. It is open to the MC to recover the amount from those contributing to the garbage or those who failed to perform their duties.

The order said in view of preponderance of probabilities that death of seven persons was attributable to the fire at the dumpsite, the MC was liable to pay the compensation to their next of kin. The compensation was assessed at Rs 57.5 lakh – Rs 10 lakh each for persons aged above 50 years and Rs 7.5 lakh each to the persons below 20.

Earlier, taking a suo motu notice of a media report regarding the fire incident, the NGT had asked the monitoring committee to furnish a factual situation report with regard to the cause of death, persons responsible for the failure and remedial action, including a measure to prevent such incidents in future. Notably, the family used to earn their livelihood from rag picking.