National Green Tribunal
Tribunal On Its Own Motion Under The ... vs The Chief Secretary To Govt. Of ... on 23 September, 2021
Bench: K Ramakrishnan, K. Satyagopal
Item No.8:-
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
SOUTHERN ZONE, CHENNAI
Original Application No. 171 of 2021 (SZ)
(Through Video Conference)
IN THE MATTER OF
Tribunal on its own motion
Suo Motu based on the news item published in
The New Sunday Express Newspaper, dt. 11.07.2021
"Illegal diversion of sewage into storm water drains continues"
...Applicant(s)
Versus
The Chief Secretary,
Government of Tamil Nadu,
Govt. Secretariat, Fort St. George,
Chennai and Ors.
.... Respondent(s)
Date of hearing: 23.09.2021.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K. RAMAKRISHNAN, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE MR. Dr. K. SATYAGOPAL, EXPERT MEMBER
For Applicant(s): Suo Motu by Court.
For Respondent(s): Dr. D. Shanmuganathan for R1 to R4, R6 & R8.
Mr. S. Sai Sathya Jith for R5.
Mr. Janakiraman for R7.
Mrs. P.T. Ramadevi through
Mr. Ragul Adhithya for R9 & R10.
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ORDER
1. The above case has been posted to today for appearance of parties, filing independent response and consideration of report.
2. The 7th respondent has filed a reply in the form of report dated 21.09.2021, e-filed on 22.09.2021 and received today (i.e. 23.09.2021) which reads as follows:-
"Report filed by the 7th Respondent I, R. Kandasamy, S/o. K.Ratnaswamy, Hindu aged about 56 years now working as Superintending Engineer (North East) in the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Chennai do hereby solemnly affirm and sincerely state as follows.
1. I am the Superintending Engineer (North East) of the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB), Chennai and 7" Respondent herein are well acquainted with the facts of the case from the connected files.
2. I am filing the report on behalf of the Managing Director, Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Chennai-28.
3. I submit that the Hon'ble National Green Tribunal, Southern Zone has given a direction to the committee members as follows:
In order to ascertain the genuineness of the allegations made in the News Paper report and also the violations, if any committed by the persons, we feel it appropriate to appoint a Joint Committee consisting of.
i A senior officer from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) deputed by its Chairman.
ii. A senior officer from Chennai River Restoration Trust. iii. A senior officer from Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) and Page 2 of 11 iv. The Superintending Engineer SVWD, CRRT & Mechanical, Greater Chennai Corporation to inspect the areas which were specified in the News Paper report.
4. I submit that the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) will be nodal agency for co-
ordination and also for providing necessary logistics for this purpose.
5. I submit that the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board are to provide or arrange for the provision of safe and sufficient supply of drinking water for consumption by the inhabitants and safe disposal of sewage in the Chennai Metropolitan areas as per CMWSS Board Act. The CMWSS Board is carrying out the services of providing safe drinking water and safe disposal of sewage generated within the Greater Chennai Corporation limit of 426 sq.km conveying the current population of 74.38 lakh (projected from 67.27 lakh as per 2011 census) through its 200 depot offices. It also supplies water to some of the adjacent local bodies and bulk industrial consumers.
6. I submit that Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) is providing sewerage services including sewage collection, treatment, reuse of treated water and power generation from sewage treatment plants and disposal in Chennai city. The sewage system in Chennai core city has been divided into 5 zones with independent zonal collection system with pipelines for a length of about 3529 kms. The sewage generated from houses and other buildings are collected through 266 sewage pumping stations and treated at 12 sewage treatment plants before safe disposal/reuse. Sewage Treatment Plants of total capacity of 727 MLD are functioning in Nesapakkam (3 units), Kodungaiyur (3 units), Koyambedu (3 units) and Perungudi (3 units).
7. I submit that Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB) is in the process of implementation and maintenance of water distribution, sewage collection and disposal network in Greater Chennai Corporation which comprises Page 3 of 11 of 200 wards including the recently added 42 Nos. of local bodies viz., 9 Nos. of Municipalities, 8 Nos. of Town Panchayat and 25 Nos. of Village Panchayat to the Greater Chennai city. The implementation of Under Ground Sewerage Scheme (UGSS) to these newly added areas are under operation in certain places and at various stages of completion in the remaining places
8. I submit that Joint Committee members inspected at Langs Garden road, Electricity office Link road and Binny road on 17.09.2021.
9. I submit that there is no encroachment in these stretches.
10. I submit that the sewage outfall near Langs Garden road at pudupet (photo depicted in the News Paper) was plugged by CMWSSB by attending leakages in the existing 300mmo CI sewage pumping main from Link road pumping station to Langs Garden pumping station.
11. I submit that the work of interception and diversion of sewage at EB link road from storm water drain to gravity sewer system is under progress and it will be completed by 31.10.2021
12. I submit that waste water flow was observed in the storm water drain at Binny road junction of EB link road which will be addressed in the mitigation of sewage outfall works.
13. I submit that Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board has taken up the work of implementation of 15 sub projects under CRRT fund and details are as detailed below., CMWSSB has been entrusted with the implementation of 15 sub-projects under Integrated Coovum River Eco-Restoration Project. The work components consist of 10 Interception and Diversion systems along the iver, 3 Modular Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) at Chetpet, College Road and Maduravoyal, one 10 MLD sewage treatment plant at Langs Garden and 1 Under Ground Sewerage Scheme (UGSS) at Nerkundram. Work on the 14 sub-subjects is in progress as detailed below:
i Interceptors and Diversion pipelines:
.Package I (Chintadripet) 100% of works have been Page 4 of 11 completed. 1 No. of outfall plugged.
.Package II (Chetpet) 100% of works have been completed. The outfalls will be plugged after commissioning of the STP Package Ill (Nungambakkam) -100% of works have been completed. The outfalls will be plugged after the commissioning of the STP Package IV (Metha Nagar) -92% of the work completed. Work is under progress and the scheduled date of completion is 30.09.2021.
Package V (Anna Nagar) 100% of works have been completed and the system has been commissioned.
Package VI (Langs Garden Road) -90% of work completed. Work is under progress and the scheduled date of completion is 31.10.2021.
Package VII (South Coovum River Road) -97% of work completed. Work is under progress and scheduled date of completion is 31.10.2021.
Package VIII (Aminjikarai) 100% of works have been completed.
Package IX (NSK Nagar) Work could not be taken due to existing encroachment and will be commenced after the removal of encroachments.
Package X (Anna Nagar) 100% of works has been completed and the system has been commissioned.
II. Modular STPS:
For Modular STP (1.0 MLD) near College Road, Chetpet, civil works are under progress and so far, 95% of work has been completed and the scheduled date of completion is 15.09.2021 For Modular STP (1.2 MLD) at Nungambakkam, civil works are under progress and so far, 66% of work has been completed and the scheduled date of completion is 31.12.2021.
.For the 10 MLD STP (TTUF) at Langs Garden, civil works are under progress and so far, 34% of work has been completed and the scheduled date of completion is 15.03.2022 On completion of the above works, 37 nos. of sewage outfalls Page 5 of 11 into river Coovum will be plugged by CMWSSB.
14. I submit that CMWSSB has taken up the Under Ground Sewerage Scheme to Nerkundram through which the outfalls from Nerkundram will be arrested on providing sewage connection through "Illarthorum Innaippu Scheme". This scheme will be completed in 2023.
Apart from the above outfalls, based on the instructions from the Chief Secretary a Joint committee comprising of officials from CMWSSB, PWD, GCC, DTP, CMA and CRRT inspected the outfalls into River Coovum from Paruthipattu to its mouth and identified 61 nos of additional outfalls carrying sewage within Chennai city.
15. I submit that CMWSSB, for the identified 61 nos of additional outfalls within Chennai city, is in the process of preparing Interception and Diversion proposals to the nearest collection system / Sewage Pumping Stations as a short term measure and permanent Infrastructure Strengthening as long term measures. The DPRs for the short term proposals in River Coovum are planned to be completed in a phased manner by December 2021 and permanent long term measures by August 2022. On availing necessary funding from the Government, all these mitigation works will be completed by 2025.
16. I submit that the Government has accorded In Principle approval for a total project cost of Rs. 2371 Cr for the Mitigation of Sewage Outfalls in the drains of River Coovum including River Adyar, and Buckingham canal and its associated drains. 46 nos Interception and Diversion works and and 39 nos of Infrastructure Strengthening works have been proposed under Phase I for a total project cost of Rs. 1001 crore covering 385 outfalls. In Phase lI, long term works to cover inadequacies in the sewerage infrastructure are to be addressed.
Administrative Sanction has been accorded by the Government for Rs. 1001 crore vide G.O. (Ms) No. 107 MA&WS (MW1) Dept, dt: 20.08.2019. Till date, tenders have been called for 11 nos of l&D works and 41 nos of Infrastructure totalling Rs.
Page 6 of 11755.41 crore. Work Orders have been issued for 6 1&D works and 28 Infrastructure Strengthening works and these works are under progress
17. The action taken by CMWSS Board for the mitigation of Sewage Outfalls for prevention of pollution of River Coovum is submitted before the Hon'ble National Green Tribunal for consideration.
18. It is therefore prayed that the Hon'ble National Green Tribunal may be pleased to accept my response on behalf of the CMWSS Board and thus render justice."
3. It is seen from the report that some work has been started and in some areas, the work has been completed. The entire work will be completed by 15.03.2022 and if the works are completed as scheduled, then there will not be any discharge of untreated sewage into the Cooum River.
4. The 7th respondent also filed a report of the Joint Committee as annexure which reads as follows:-
"Report of the Joint Committee (As per Hon'ble National Green Tribunal, Southern Zone, Chennai Order dated 10.08.2021 in OA No. 171/2021) A case has been Suo Motu registered by the Hon'ble National Green Tribunal Southern Zone on the basis of the News Paper report published in "The Sunday Express edition dated 11.07.2021 under the caption "Illegal diversion of sewage into storm water drain continues".
The Hon'ble National Green Tribunal Southern Zone in the matter of O.A.No.171 of 2021 vide order dated 10.08.2021 has directed as follows:
In order to ascertain the genuineness of the allegations made in the News Paper report The Hon'ble NGT feel it appropriate to Page 7 of 11 appoint a Joint Committee. In accordance to the Hon'ble NGT directions CMWSSB communicated the order and requested for nomination from respective departments nominations were received and the committee constituted with the following members.
1. Dr.R.Umayakunjaram, District Environmental Engineer, TNPCB.
2. Dr.S.Viswanathan, Environmental Specialist, CRRT
3. R. Kandasamy, Superintending Engineer(N.E), CMWSSB.
4. V.Kannaian, Executive Engineer (SWD, CRRT), Greater Chennai Corporation.
Inspection of the committee members An inspection was carried out by the committee members along with the department officials at Langs Garden road, E.B Link road and Binny road on 17.09.2021 (photos enclosed).
Observations
1. It is submitted that there is no encroachment in these stretches
2. The sewage outfall near Langs Garden road at pudupet (photo depicted in the News Paper report) was plugged by CMWSSB by attending leaks in the 300mm CI pumping main from Link road pumping station to Langs Garden pumping station.
3. The work of interception and diversion of sewage at EB Link road from sWD to gravity sewer system is under progress by CMWSSB and it will be completed by 31.10.2021.
4. Waste water flow was observed in the storm water drain at Binny road junction of EB link road.
5. In order to mitigate sewage outfalls for prevention of pollution of river Cooum, CMWSSB is carrying out the work of interception and diversion of storm water drain to the nearest oollection system/ pumping station.
6. The interception and diversion arrangements had been proposed with weir arrangements by which any lean sewage flow will be intercepted and conveyed through interceptor pipelines to the Page 8 of 11 nearest pumping station and excess flow from the storm water drain will automatically flow into the river especially during rainy seasons.
7. The projects under implementation are as follows:
.Laying of interceptors and diversion of sewage at Langs Garden from chainage 2500-4200m left bank and allied woks - Package VI This project comprises of Construction of 30 nos of machine holes, 855m of gravity sewer main at Langs Garden road of size 600mm dia to 1200mm dia, 900m of Pumping main from Gandhi Irwin bridge road to Langs Garden road pumping station, Construction of sewage pumping station at Gandhi Irwin bridge road. The work is 90%completed, and scheduled date of completion is 31.10.2021.
Laying of interceptors and diversion of sewage at South Cooum road from chainage 4300-5400m left bank and allied works- Package VII This project comprises of 26 nos of machine holes, 710m of gravity sewer main at Langs Garden road of size 500mm dia and 700mm dia, 800m of Pumping main from South Coovum river road to Langs Garden road pumping station, Construction of sewage pumping station at South Coovum river road. The work is 97%completed, and scheduled date of completion is 31.10.2021.
8. Further CMWSSB is executing the work of construction of 10MLD sewage treatment plant at Langs Garden road. The scheduled date of completion is 15.03.2022. Upon completion of interception and diversion works at Langs Garden road, South Cooum river road, construction of 10MLD sewage treatment plant at Langs Garden road 6 Nos. outfalls at Langs Garden road 4 Nos. of outfalls at South Cooum river road will be plugged.
Mitigation of Sewage Outfalls:
The Government has accorded In Principle approval for a total project cost of Rs. 2371 Cr for the Mitigation of Sewage Outfalls in the drains of River Cooum including River Adyar, and Buckingham canal and its associated drains. 46 nos of Interception and Diversion works and 39 nos of Infrastructure Strengthening works have been proposed under Phase I for a total project cost of Page 9 of 11 Rs. 1001 crore covering 385 outfalls. In Phase l, long term works to cover inadequacies in the sewerage infrastructure are to be addressed.
Administrative Sanction has been accorded by the Government for Rs. 1001 crore vide G.O. (Ms) No. 107 MA&WS (MW1) Dept, dt: 20.08.2019. Till date, tenders have been called for 11 nos of 18&D works and 41 nos of Infrastructure totalling Rs.
755.41 crore. Work Order has been issued for 6 1&D works and 28 Infrastructure Strengthening works and these works are under progress.
The action taken by CMWSS Board for the mitigation of Sewage Outfalls for prevention of pollution of River Cooum is submitted before the Hon'ble National Green Tribunal for consideration."
5. The learned counsel appearing for the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board wanted some time to file their independent report. When they are filing the report, they are directed to ascertain as to whether the steps taken by the CMWSSB has resulted is any improvement in the water quality in Cooum River and whether any temporary measures have been taken by them to mitigate the situation and to avoid discharge of sewage into the Cooum River to protect the river from pollution till the completion of permanent measures.
6. The other official respondents are also directed to file their independent statement regarding the allegations made in the newspaper report before this Tribunal as directed.
Page 10 of 117. They are directed to submit their respective reports to this Tribunal on or before 27.10.2021 by e-filing in the form of Searchable PDF/OCR Supportable PDF and not in the form of Image PDF along with necessary hardcopies to be produced as per Rules.
8. The Registry is directed to communicate this order to the members of the committee, official respondents and also to the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board by e-mail immediately for their information and compliance of the direction.
9. For completion of pleadings, consideration of independent reports including the report to be filed by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, post on 27.10.2021.
Sd/-
.......................................J.M. (Justice K. Ramakrishnan) Sd/-
.................................E.M. (Dr. K. Satyagopal) O.A. No.171/2021 (SZ), 23rd September, 2021. Mn.
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