HYDERABAD: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered authorities to invoke the Revenue Recovery Act and recover environmental compensation (EC) ranging between 3 lakh and 10 lakh each from 10 cotton ginning mills, mostly located in Jogulamba Gadwal district, which were found to be violating pollution norms.
The mills have failed to pay EC even after one-and-half years.
NGT has delivered the judgment based on the application filed by P Madhusudhan Reddy, a resident of Vitalapuram in Jogulamba Gadwal district.
NGT, in a judgment on February 3, directed the Pollution Control Board (PCB) to take action against those units which had not remitted the environmental compensation and initiate proceedings for recovery of it through the district collector by invoking the Revenue Recovery Act, 1890. PCB was asked to monitor the functioning of the units and, if there was any violation found in future, take action, including further imposition of compensation depending upon the nature of violations.
Environmental compensation recovered by the PCB has to be utilised for the purpose of protecting the environment by taking appropriate steps in that area to reduce air pollution as well as water pollution.
TSPCB had calculated compensation for the 17 cotton ginning and cotton seed processing industries and issued directions on October 3, 2020 to remit EC within a week. Of the 17 units, only seven industries had remitted EC and remaining 10 had not paid up. Of the 15 cotton seed processing units except two units, all the rest had constructed effluent treatment plants (ETPs) and completed trial run. One unit had dismantled the cotton seed processing equipment and informed that in only cotton ginning process will be carried out and also it was applying for modified consent for operation.
