NGT orders polluters to bear cost of treatment of victims
August 17, 2018The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered that the victims of the diseases caused by consumption of contaminated water must be given treatment at the cost of the polluters. The industries around the districts of Saharanpur, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Muzzafarnagar, Shamli, and Meerut in Uttar Pradesh have been polluting the river water for over two decades because of which hundreds of people are detected of cancer each year.
The bench has passed the order while hearing a petition filed by Doaba Paryavaran Samiti which sought directions against industries like sugar mills, distilleries, paper mills, electroplating, slaughter houses, wet blues hides etc which are running illegally and polluting the river water by dumping hazardous material in various regions of Uttar Pradesh.
NGT has also recommended that monetary compensation must be given to the victims of pollution and ordered for the preparation of an action plan for all 302 polluted rivers stretches across India. It has come to the notice of the NGT that the people living around the branks of Kalinadi, Krishna and Hindon rivers are bound to consume contaminated water from the rivers due to which many are suffering from diseases like Cholera, kidney failure, hepatitis, liver damage, mental retardation, cancer, bone diseases, deformities, and several other fatal diseases. The tests have revealed that the water in these rivers is highly polluted consisting of toxic metals.
The NGT has stated that appropriate schemes are required to be put in place at the level of CPCB, Chief Secretaries, and District Magistrates. The NGT has also expressed concern over the fact that despite the availability of legal provision, the polluters have not been prosecuted for many years. Unless the polluters are punished, the pollution will continue to rise and harm the inhabitants.