The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Haryana government to submit a report on all stone-crushing units operating in Mahendragarh and Charkhi Dadri in eight weeks.
In its order, the tribunal told the government to provide the relevant information in charts, including compliance of anti-pollution norms by each unit and whether they obtained consent to establish (CTE) and consent to operate (CTO).
NGT gave the directions while hearing a petition by Vinod Kumar Jangra, a resident of Charkhi Dadri, and several other cases related to the issue.
The petitioner pleaded that the air quality in the areas where the units are operating does not have the assimilative capacity to sustain pollution generated by them, resulting in violation of air and water pollution norms and adversely affecting the environment and public health.
The tribunal was hearing the petition on October 21, while its order was released on Tuesday.
According to a report submitted by the Haryana government to NGT last month, out of the 133 units operating in Mahendergarh, 49 were found to be violating the provisions of a 2016 notification on stone crushers as well as those of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
Out of these 49 units, 24 units have been closed by Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) by revoking their CTO, 32 have closed down on their own and closure action is under way against three units.
The government also submitted that the proposal for installation of five continuous ambient air quality monitoring systems in Mahendergarh has been accepted by the Centre and CPCB had informed them that the project has been recommended for a funding of Rs 5.1 crore under the NGT environmental compensation funds. HSPCB has set up another five manual monitoring stations, it said.Meanwhile in Charkhi Dadri, 104 stone-crushing units were found not complying with the norms and operating without valid CTE/CTO.
The government said 40 such units have been closed by HSPCB, seven have closed down on their own and 57 units were found to be dismantled.
“It will be open for the applicant to file objections, if any, to the report. Let the same be filed before the next date of hearing,” the NGT bench, which included chairperson Prakash Shrivastava, expert member Dr A Senthil Vel and expert member Dr Afroz Ahmad, said. The next hearing is on November 23.
Meanwhile, a senior Haryana mining department official said that they have already been working on NGT’s directions. “We will submit all details as per the orders of the tribunal,” the official said.