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West Bengal Pollution Control Board and the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) was directed by the eastern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) September 26, 2024 to file their counter affidavits on steps to address vehicular pollution in Kolkata as well as in the country.
The court gave the respondents four weeks for the response. The case will be next heard on November 18, 2024.
Applicant Subhas Datta stated that the High Court at Calcutta, through order dated June 17, 2010, had directed West Bengal to procure three remote sensing devices (RSD) and the state government had submitted before the HC that they had already made operational one remote sensing device. This was being used for testing automobile emission levels at different places in four districts on four different weekdays.
A news article in the English-language daily The Telegraph published December 8, 2023 reported that there was one RSD in use and two more devices were handed over to the transport department by the State Pollution Control Board, West Bengal.
A subsequent article in the newspaper The Times of India on April 6, 2024 reported that the RSDs are lying defunct.
The applicant also argued that with the introduction of Bharat Stage VI (BSVI) standards and fuels in April 2020, it is essential to meet real-time emissions monitoring and management to ensure low pollution levels.
He submitted that the Pollution Under Control certificate programme is an old system and is not effective for BSVI norms.
The application mentioned that the West Bengal Pollution Control Board and the state police be directed to adopt and implement the use of RSDs duly certified by the Automotive Research Association of India or the National Physical Laboratory or the International Centre for Automotive Technology to monitor and control pollution emissions by moving vehicles.
A direction has also been sought for amendment of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules to incorporate the mandatory testing of running vehicles through RSD machines. The applicant further submitted that MORTH be directed to standardise ‘Automotive Industry Standard (AIS) 170 / Remote Sensing Devices for on-road Emissions Monitoring — Product Specifications and Programme Guidelines’ to enable comprehensive testing, ensuring that vehicular pollution is addressed effectively across the country.
Illegal sand mining in River Kaldiya, in Bajali district, Assam was taken up by NGT September 27, 2024. The court ordered the formation of a committee comprising senior scientist, Assam State Pollution Control Board and district commissioner of Bajali to look into the matter.
The committee has been directed to carry out an inspection of the site in question and submit a fact-finding report with regard to the allegations made.
Illegal sand mining in River Kaldiya, a tributary of the Brahmaputra river was taking place within 200 metres from Chaibari bridge using JCB excavators in gross violation of the Sand Mining Guidelines of 2016 and the Enforcement and Monitoring Guidelines for Sand Mining, 2020, the applicant said.
The applicant also alleged that the dumpers carrying river sand had also damaged two culverts of the village road. There was no district survey report for Chaibari district and yet mining activity was being carried out.
NGT directed the formation of a three-member committee September 26, 2024 to look into the allegations of land mafia capturing and converting government land into agricultural field in Jharkhand's Giridih district.
The committee has been tasked with visiting the site and submitting a fact-finding report. If the allegations are validated, the committee would identify the violators and disclose their names with address in the affidavit, so that they may be impleaded in the present proceedings and given an opportunity of being heard, the order added.
The tribunal directed notices to be issued to the principal secretary, department of environment and forest, Jharkhand; district magistrate, Giridih; divisional forest officer, Giridih and the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board, Ranchi.
The application stated that a river passing through the land belonging to Jamdiha forest department in Pandedih Gram Panchayat in Jamua block / circle has been diverted. Land adjacent to the river, used as cremation ground by 10-12 villages, has been encroached upon and converted into an agricultural land by certain land mafias, it added.