Manali industries told to pay up 1% of turnover for relief fund
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has already declared Manali as a critically polluted area due to the presence of several industries.
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CHENNAI: The southern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed the State government to collect deposits from the companies located in Manali industrial complex and form a ‘Manali Environmental Relief Fund’ and also take other measures. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has already declared Manali as a critically polluted area due to the presence of several industries.
Hearing a suo motu case on industries polluting North Chennai, the tribunal directed the creation of a corpus fund, which should consist of deposit of a minimum one per cent of the annual turnover from all companies located in the Manali complex for the restoration of any affected area.
“The said corpus fund shall be operated jointly by the Chief Secretary and the Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and shall utilise for restoration of the environment and for constructing RCC roads in the entire affected area as per the decision taken by the said committee. The fund may be called as Manali Environmental Relief Fund,” said the order issued by Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana (judicial member) and Satyagopal Korlapati (expert member).
The case is against six industries - North Chennai Thermal Power Station, NTPC Tamil Nadu Energy Company Limited, Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited, Tamil Nadu Petro Products Limited, Manali Petrochemicals Limited, and Madras Fertilizers Limited.
The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) should constitute a dedicated team to monitor the Online Continuous Emission/Effluent monitoring Systems (OCEMS) data, while the industrial units should also have an internal mechanism to closely monitor the functioning of OCEMS as well as critically analyse the data for immediate corrections and shall submit a monthly analysis report to the TNPCB.
‘Form expert committee to examine, revise protocols’
The CPCB has been directed to constitute a committee that may also include experts in the field of air and water pollution to examine the existing protocols for OCEMS and submit revised protocols to the NGT in 3 months.
A committee should meet periodically to evaluate the advancements in pollution control equipment, especially those relating to the capture of particulate matter, as per the order.
TNPCB has been directed to verify the list of industries that are yet to install the OCEMS system. “If some of the units have not yet been mandated to install the OCEMS system, the TNPCB is directed to issue instructions to all units to install them within the shortest possible time, failing which appropriate action should be taken. The TNPCB is directed to report the reasons for not directing or exempting certain industries from establishing the OCEMS. Failure by TNPCB also would attract fine plus compensation,” the Tribunal warned.
Addressing other measures to control pollution, the NGT instructed the CPCB to consider increasing the requirement of greenbelt area and increasing the tree density. “In case of constraints of land, the industries may be permitted to create a greenbelt adjacent to the industries including in private lands. However, it should be made mandatory that the periphery of industries have a thick green cover with the tallest growing native trees,” the order added.
Also, direction has been given to central and state pollution boards to mandate that industrial parks and areas should have only concrete roads with 3-4 rows of tree plantations to act as a buffer for trapping air pollutants.
While issuing the orders, the NGT observed that in China and Australia, emission norms are locations where key areas have stricter standards over the baseline emission levels. “There is a need for having differential norms for areas where industries that pollute the air critically as against the industries located in isolated and far away locations,” it observed. “Rather than responding to the problem after it merges, it will be prudent for the CPCB and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to examine the need for prescribing different standards.”
