The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed a fine of Rs 200 crore on the state of Nagaland. The fine has been imposed for allegedly not managing solid and liquid waste management that harms the environment. A bench of Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, passing the order on November 24, said that considering the statement of gap in sewage generation and treatment and gap in solid waste management, “we levy compensation of Rs 200 crore on the state on polluter pays principle”. Huh.” The penalty is for failure to scientifically manage liquid and solid waste in violation of the mandate of the law, particularly the judgments of the Supreme Court and this tribunal.
The bench also said that the amount can be kept in the ring. For waste management in the state, fence account will be operated only as per the instructions of the Chief Secretary. Rs 200 crore should be used for setting up solid waste processing facilities, treatment of old waste and setting up of sewage treatment plants (STPs) and FSSTPs, so that there is no gap. We hope that the State of Nagaland will take further measures in this matter through an innovative approach and close monitoring in the context of dialogue with the Chief Secretary.
This will ensure that the gap in solid and liquid waste generation and treatment is bridged at the earliest. The Bench directed the cities, towns and villages to ensure compliance by the Chief Secretary in a time-bound manner without any delay. The issues of solid and liquid waste management are being monitored by the Tribunal as per the Supreme Court’s order of 2 September 2014 for solid waste management and liquid waste management as per the order of 22 February 2017.
Other related issues include pollution of 351 river stretches, 124 non-achieving cities in terms of air quality, 100 polluted industrial clusters, illegal sand mining etc., which have been dealt with earlier as well, but we confine the action to the present case. propose to do. The order states that there are two issues of solid waste and sewage management. The Tribunal further noted that in view of the continued non-compliance, vide order dated January 16, 2019, the Tribunal directed the Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories to be present for personal interaction to ensure compliance.
The tribunal also noted that large-scale non-compliance of environmental norms results in deaths and diseases and causes irreversible damage to the environment, accountability needs to be fixed for such failures and violation of the directions is an offence.
