The National Green Tribunal has directed six states to
submit by April 30 action plans for bringing air quality standards within the
prescribed norms, failing which they would be liable to pay environment
compensation of Rs 1 crore each.
A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel ordered the chief
secretaries of Assam, Jharkhand Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Nagaland
governments to submit their plan within the stipulated time.
“We direct chief secretaries of the states in respect of which action
plans have not been filed to forthwith furnish such action plans,” the
bench, also comprising Justices S P Wangdi and K Ramakrishnan, said.
The States, where action plans are found to be deficient and deficiencies are
not removed till April 30, 2019, will be liable to pay Rs 25 lakh each and the
timeline for execution of the action plans is six months from the date their
finalisation, the bench said.
It said that budgetary provision must be made for execution of such plans.
The tribunal warned that if action plans are not executed within the specified
timeline, the defaulting states will be liable to pay environmental
compensation and may also be required to furnish performance guarantee for
execution of plans in extended timeline as per recommendations received from
the Central Pollution Control Board.
“The CPCB is directed to update the number of cities. If on parameters
applied, there are other cities, not included in list of 102, such cities may
be also included,” the NGT said.
The direction came after the CPCB informed it that out of 102 cities, action
plan has been received from 83 cities while 19 have not submitted the plan.
The NGT will take up the matter for further consideration on July 19.
Concerned over the threat posed to limited natural resources due to their
overuse, the tribunal has directed for assessment of carrying capacity of 102
cities, including Delhi, where air quality does not meet the National Ambient
Air Quality Standards.
The concept of “carrying capacity” addresses the question as to how
many people can be permitted into any area without the risk of degrading the
environment there.
The tribunal had said the Ministry of Urban Development in coordination with
the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Ministry of Transport, authorities
such as Planning Commission and states may carry out such study with the
assistance of experts in the field.
It had said that it is undisputed that air pollution is a matter of serious
concern and large number of deaths take place every year in the country on
account of air pollution.
The NGT had said Delhi is over-polluted and figures quite high in the ranking
of most polluted cities and there is no study about the capacity of the city
with respect to the extent of population which can be accommodated and number
of vehicles which can be handled by its roads.
Source: PTI
If you really appreciate our work and love our cherry picked stories
Follow us on Twitter , Like Us onFacebook and Subscribe ourYouTube Channel.