Polluter pays: NGT slaps Rs 10 cr fine on 3 units in Sangareddy

Hyderabad: Three polluting industrial units in Sangareddy have been ordered to pay Rs 10 crore as environmental compensation under the ‘polluter pays’ principle by the National Green Tribunal’s ( NGT ) principal bench in New Delhi.

The operations of the three polluting units — pharma firm Piramal Enterprises; Frigerio Conserva Allana Ltd, one of the biggest meat exporters; and Shree Siddi Vinayaka Agro Extractions, an oil unit — were found to have adversely affected the availability of groundwater as well as quality of drinking water in the surrounding areas.

The NGT order came in a petition filed by K Lakshma Reddy who had sought action against the three for discharging untreated effluents.

Of the Rs 10 crore, Piramal has to pay Rs 8.3 crore at Rs 60,000/day for 1,386 days; Allana Rs 1.74 crore at Rs 30,000/day for 583 days; and Shree Siddhi Vinayaka Rs 14.2 lakh. Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) has been asked to recover the damages from the three industries.

Piramal, which is located at Digwal in Kohir Mandal, Sangareddy, manufactures 62 products with a total capacity of 12 tonnes per day.

It was inspected by NGT teams thrice since the petition in 2018 and was found to have rainwater pits that were not lined, resulting in seepage. Moreover, the TPCB never issued any closure notice to the unit till the NGT intervened. NGT has now ordered that the company review the drainage pattern and only retain necessary pits, closing the rest. The company has to submit an action plan for monitoring of treatment system to PCB and also monitor the groundwater quality on a quarterly basis.

Frigerio Conserva Allana Ltd. in Zahirabad is a fully automated meat processing unit having mechanised abattoirs. NGT team inspected the industry thrice and observed that huge quantities of effluent treatment plant sludge were stored in an open area, leading to odour. PCB didn’t issue notice of closure till Jan 2, 2019.

Allana has now been ordered to engage a reputed agency to study the optimum use of treated waste water for irrigation. “The industry shall monitor on a quarterly basis the groundwater quality and also odour dispersion as per meteorological conditions. The industry shall install the online effluent monitoring system and connect the same to servers of TSPCB and CPCB,” the NGT said in the order.

The third industry Shree Siddhi Vinayaka, also in Zahirabad, is a solvent extraction oil unit categorised as Orange by the TSPCB. The refinery section was closed in March 2018 due to odour and was also directed by TSPCB to shift to the industrial area in Buchinelly by Dec 2020. NGT has directed TSPCB to follow up the progress made in shifting the unit to the industrial area and also asked it to inspect the unit every three months.