NGT criticises HSPCB for their inadequate work in cleaning up Yamuna

NEW DELHI: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has criticised officials of Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) after a tribunal appointed committee found out that the board was unable to discharge their statutory functions and had displayed a lack of control over industrial pollution in the Yamuna river. The Yamuna Monitoring Committee, in a report submitted to the NGT, highlighted that the responsibility for the installation and maintenance of sewage treatment plants in Haryana lies with multiple authorities, like the Haryana Shahari Vikash Parishad, Public Health Engineering Department, Urban Local Bodies Department, and Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA).

“This multiplicity of agencies operating in different cities/towns and rural areas is resulting in lack of coordinated planning and implementation of sewage management in the state. The NGT may consider directing Haryana to identify one agency for effective planning and supervision,” the report further said.

The NGT will be considering reprimanding the officers of HSPCB who are found to be at fault for their “inability to discharge their statutory functions and lack of any regulatory vigil or control over industrial pollution and other activities such as sand mining and construction of bunds on the Yamuna.”