Simbhaoli Sugar Mills fined Rs 5 crore for polluting Ganga

A day after the Supreme Court slammed the Central government for its lack of vision on cleaning up the Ganga, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) imposed a Rs 5 crore fine on a polluting industry. On Thursday, it ordered the Simbhaoli Sugar Mills and its distillery in Uttar Pradesh to pay a compensation of Rs 5 crore to the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) for polluting the ground water as well as the river Ganga (through Phuldera drain).

The tribunal relied on the “polluter pays” principle while passing the order. The money received will be used by UPPCB for “cleaning of Syana Escape Canal, preventing and controlling ground water pollution, installation of an appropriate ETP or any other plant at the end point of Phuldera Drain where it joins river Ganga in order to ensure that no pollutant is permitted to enter River Ganga through that drain,” the order says.

The compensation amount is also to be used for restoring quality of ground water. The tribunal also directed the industry to clean up the sludge in the Phuldera drain as ordered earlier.

Another polluting industry, Gopaljee Dairy Pvt Ltd, has been fined Rs 25 lakh in the same order. NGT also ordered the unit to install online monitoring system for relevant parameters of treated effluent discharge as agreed by UPPCB with real time data transmission facility to UPPCB within three months.

Judgement of the National Green Tribunal regarding water pollution in the River Ganga, particularly, between Garh Mukteshwar and Narora, 16/10/2014

Judgement of the National Green Tribunal regarding releasing of harmful effluent from Simbhaoli Sugar mill and Distillery and Gopal Ji Dairy into Simbhaoli Drain and finally into the River Ganga, 31/05/2014

Compliance statement on behalf of Central Pollution Control Board, Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board and National Ganga River Basin Authority with regard to Krishan Kant Singh & Others Vs National Ganga River Basin Authority & Others

Report of the Inter-Ministerial Group on issues relating to river Ganga

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