Jal Shakti Dept slapped Rs 40 lakh fine for disregarding NGT order
Taking a serious view of the blatant disregard of the directions of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) by the Jal Shakti Department in operating a sewage treatment plant (STP) at Parwanoo, the State Pollution Control imposed a penalty of Rs 40.90 lakh on it last evening.
All four critical parameters like ph, biological oxygen demand (BoD), total suspended solids (TSS) and fecal coliform (FC) pertaining to the STP were severally breached consistently from October 2023 to December 2024.
The FC, which is supposed to be less than 100 and permissible up to 230, was found as high as 1600 on nine occasions during this duration.
The high count of coliform indicates contamination of water body with sewage, which could trigger diarrhoea and related ailments. The BoD is a crucial water quality indicator that measures the amount of oxygen consumed by aerobic microorganisms to decompose organic matter.
Parwanoo has been witnessing regular diarrhoea outbreaks as sewage contaminates potable water with high coliform content. More than 750 diarrhoea cases were detected last year.
Even TSS was found exceeding the permissible limit of 20 mg per litre as it lay in the range of 26 to 310 on nine occasions, thus reflecting the ineffectiveness of the STP which was installed on the instructions of the NGT.
“Since the Jal Shakti Department operates and maintains the STP, its persistent non-compliance for 409 days from October 31, 2023 to December 13, 2024 makes it liable for environmental compensation. The penalty, which was among the highest imposed on the JSD, has exposed the lack of seriousness of the staff as it has been warned on several occasions in the past,” confided Anil Kuamr, board’s regional officer at Parwanoo.
The department has been granted 15 days to pay this penalty failing which regulatory and penal action under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 would be undertaken, warned the board’s member secretary Anil Joshi in orders issued last evening.
Notably, the STP was installed to address the problem of contamination of sewage waste with the water of Sukhna Nallah and Ashwani Khad. Since drinking water is drawn from the two water bodies by the neighbouring Haryana they had vociferously raised the issue of untreated sewage from Parwanoo contaminating water bodies in Pinjore in the past.
As a result, two STPs with a capacity of 1 million litre per day each were set up on the directions of the National Green Tribunal. While the first one has been established at Sector 1, the other being set up at Kamli village has been inordinately delayed.
The first STP has failed to treat wastewater optimally despite having much fewer connections than its capacity and being functional since years.
Himachal Tribune