Down To Earth brings you the top environmental cases heard in the Supreme Court, the high courts and the National Green Tribunal
Housing debris obstructs Siswan
A residential project ‘The Lake’ by M/s Omaxe Chandigarh Extension Developer Pvt Ltd in New Chandigarh, Mohali district of Punjab was disturbing the natural flow of the Siswan rivulet, according to a joint committee report submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
Further, the creek adjoining the river was also filled with the construction debris thrown by the builders. The report was uploaded to the NGT site on March 2, 2020.
The committee recommended that Greater Mohali Area Development Authority construct culverts at two points for passing 4,650 cusecs of water and that Omaxe remove the debris from the path of the natural drain and restore the level of the land to the original level.
The project proponent should also protect the “left side of the creek of the reach adjoining to ‘The Lake’ project and the left edge of the road from point A to B along the creek with the help of stone pitching” according to the undertaking of October 22, 2019 submitted by it, the committee said.
Air pollution at Faizabad railway godown
A compliance report was filed by the railways pursuant to the directions of the NGT vide order dated October 11, 2019, regarding remedial action against pollution at and around the railway godown in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, in the course of loading and unloading of cement, fertilisers and grains by trucks, polluting the air quality and causing respiratory problems.
The compliance report mentioned that during the loading / unloading of goods, all the labourers involved were wearing masks and were not using hooks in order to avoid the hazardous effect to their health and the dust particles were not going into the air from the bags.
Loaded trucks were fully covered with tarpaulin to avoid the movement of dust particles from them and 120 trees had been planted near the boundary wall for which the surface had been levelled and work was under process.
Bengaluru noise pollution
An inspection and action-taken report regarding noise pollution caused from M/s Tata Telecommunication transformers and AC exhausts located at Sanjayanagar, Bengaluru was filed by Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB).
The Tata Telecommunications Building was inspected by KSPCB on December 13, 2019 and it was noted that the building had an acoustic wall to the transformer room and also had provided acoustic enclosure to all the 12 AC exhaust.
The KSPCB called for provision of closed room for the DG set vents and removal of exhaust fans in the acoustic panel of the transformer room. The unit was again inspected on February 25, 2020 to know the compliance made by the telecommuniction authority to reduce noise level and it was observed that noise level had considerably reduced.
Environmental officer, RO-Bengaluru city west has given the recommendation that as the telecommunication authority has taken all the control measures to reduce the noise level, the complaint has been solved and hence it has been recommended to close the issue.
Waste dumping at Ghaziabad
A site inspection report was filed by the Central Pollution Control Board in accordance with the NGT order of May 28, 2019 in the matter of Confederation of Trans RWAs Ghaziabad vs Uttar Pradesh State Pollution Control Board.
The issued related to inaction of the Municipal Corporation, Ghaziabad in complying with the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 in not collecting garbage from Indirapuram, Vasundhara and Visalia which was being dumped at Shakti Khand. Waste was not being segregated and non-degradable waste was not being recycled.
The groundwater quality near the dumpsite at Shakti Khand-4, Indirapuram was way above the permissible limit with respect to total dissolved solids and iron. Also, mixed municipal solid waste (MSW) was being dumped at the 30,000 square metre plot area and the height of the dumpside varied from five to fifteen feet at different places.
The report also stated that the dumpside at Shakti Khand, Indirapuram was not a scientific landfill and if dumping of MSW continued, then leachate would percolate to groundwater and further contaminate groundwater.
Moreover, as the dumpsite was located in a thickly populated area, further dumping of waste by Ghaziabad Development Authority had to be stopped immediately to curtail any further damage to the environment. The report was made public on March 2, 2020.
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