[dropcap]T[/dropcap]HE National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Gujarat government to pay Rs 75 crore to an ESCROW account after receiving a complaint based on newspaper reports on the high level of air pollution in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Citing the report on the Pirana landfill site where the average level of Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 was beyond safe limits, the panel pointed out that the mortality rate was reportedly very high in Gujarat on account of air pollution.
“In view of clear and patent damage to public health, the issue of clearing legacy waste at Pirana must be attended to preferably within two weeks and the work to clear the garbage may commence preferably within one month,” the NGT panel comprising of Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, Judicial Members S P Wangdi and K Ramakrishnan and Expert Member DR Nagin Nanda said.
“Citizens are entitled to clean air and right to good health as part of the right to life,” the panel asserted, while also suggesting that the government set up a bio-diversity park on the periphery of the land in question after removing the legacy waste from the entire or part of the site.
The state may consider using part of the recovered land for an integrated waste processing, treatment facility and for a Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facility (TSDF) for hazardous waste and also have “a biodiversity park on the periphery to improve the air quality and ambience”, the NGT panel advised.
Background of the case
The complaint was filed before the NGT by Advocate Amit M Panchal based on media reports on the rising air pollution in the city of Ahmedabad. It was also brought to the notice of the NGT that petcoke and furnace oil were being used in the city in violation of the Supreme Court judgement in M C Mehta v Union of India ors.
The NGT passed the order after receiving a report from Member Secretary, State of Gujarat, Pollution Control Board which stated that the statistics taken from monitoring stations showed that the “average PM 10 exceeds by 3.3 to 5.2 times and PM 2.5 exceeds by 1.5 to 2.45 times of the annual average” and that only 19 industries had obtained consent under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 for utilizing furnace oil.
