West Bengal to pay Rs 3500 cr as environmental compensation

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has asked the Government of West Bengal to pay Rs 3500 crore as environmental compensation for failing to treat solid and liquid waste.

The green bench, headed by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, noted that the state government hasn’t done much to prioritise solid and liquid waste treatment in the urban areas of the state. The bench asked the state to take remedial measures within six months.

As per the order, the state has to pay Rs 3000 crores for its failure to ensure liquid waste management, and Rs 500 crores have to be paid for not processing the solid waste. The bench added that the compensation has to be deposited within two months by the state government in a separate ring-fenced account. The NGT said, “It is necessary to determine the accountability for the past failures causing huge damage to the environment and public health and to meet the cost of remediation.”

Apart from that the bench also said that the chief secretary should monitor the progress every month and all the district magistrates should supervise the compliance of environmental laws at least once in two weeks. The NGT found that out of a total of 2758 million litres of sewage waste generated in the urban areas, only 1268 million litres are treated, which is far less than the total sewage treatment capacity of 1505.85 million litres, that too, after setting up several waste treatment plants.