Mr.V.Rajesh vs Ministry Of Environment Forest And ... on 20 August, 2020

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National Green Tribunal

Mr.V.Rajesh vs Ministry Of Environment Forest And ... on 20 August, 2020

Bench: K. Ramakrishnan

Item No.7


              BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
                         SOUTHERN ZONE, CHENNAI
                 Original Application No. 64 of 2020 (SZ)
                          (Through Video Conference)
IN THE MATTER OF

V. Rajesh                                              ...Applicant(s)

                                   Versus
Union of India and Ors.                                ....Respondent(s)
Date of hearing: 20.8.2020.

CORAM:

     HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K. RAMAKRISHNAN, JUDICIAL MEMBER

      Hon'ble Mr. Saibal Dasgupta, Expert Member

Counsel for applicant:            Mrs. Gowtham Reddy for

                                  Mr. R. Chandrasekar

Counsel for respondent:            Mr. G.M. Syed Nurullah Sheriff for R1

                                  Mr. Kasirajan and

                                  Ms. Meena for R2 and R12
                                  Mr. Mani Gopi for R3 to R11 & R13


                                   ORDER

As per order dated 13.5.2020, this Tribunal had constituted a committee to go into the allegations in the application and directed them to submit a report and posted the case to 24.7.2020. On 24.7.2020, the case was adjourned to today as there was no sitting.

2. When the matter came up for hearing today though Video Conference, Mr. Gowtham Reddy represented Mr. R. Chandrasekar, counsel for applicant. Mr.G.M. Syed Nurullah Sheriff represented first respondent, Mr. Mani Gopi represented respondents 3 to 11 and Mr. Kasirajan through Ms. Meena represented respondents 2 and 12.

3. We have received an interim report of the joint committee dated 13.5.2020 which reads as follows:

About Committee In accordance to Hon'ble Tribunal direction, CPCB, RD(S), Bengaluru communicated the order and requested for nomination from respective departments vide letter no. Tech/39/NGT(SZ)/RDS/2020-21/84-88 dated May 20, 2020. Consequent upon the nominations received from respective department, a preliminary meeting was planned to be conducted on July 09, 2020 with the concurrence of Committee Members. The Committee constituted with the following members:

1. Smt. MageswariRavikumar, I.A.S, Collector, Tiruvallur district

2. Sh. M. Malayandi, JCEE, TNPCB, Chennai

3. Sh. R. Rajkumar, Scientist 'D', CPCB, RD (S), Bengaluru

4. Sh. Pothupanithilagam, EE, WRD-PWD, Chennai

5. Dr. S. Viswanathan, Environmental Specialist, CRRT, Chennai

1. Scope of the committee as per order

(i) To identify any violation in respect to the waste management rules and to identify the violators as well as calculating environmental compensation against violation.

(ii) To issue necessary recommendation, if any encroachment or construction into the water body against the norms.

(iii) To ascertain the water quality in and around the garbage recycling plant and identify any likely chance for ground water pollution and to give suggestions/recommendations for remedial measures, if required.

2. Committee Meeting A preliminary meeting was conducted through online on 09.07.2020 at 11.00 AM with the Committee Members and discussed about the scope of committee as per order and trailed by the discussion with RDO, EOMinjur Town Panchayat and presentation from WRD Araniyaron the present status of the site. The following officialswere present during the online meeting.

i) Smt.S. Vidya, RDO, TiruvallurDistrict

ii) Sh. N. VetriArasu, EO, Minjur Town Panchayat, Thiruvallur District

iii) Smt. A. Jayakumari, WRD-PWD,Araniyar Division, Tiruvallur

iv) Sh. M.Prabakaran AE, DEE, TNPCB, Gumidipoondi EO, Minjur Town Panchayatpresented the following before the Committee;

 Minjur Town Panchayat comprises of 18 wards with a population of 31094 as per 2018 census. The town is spread over an area of 8.28 Sq. Km. TheTown Panchayat is utilizing Self Help Groups for collection and segregation of domestic solid waste. The solid waste generation is about 7.5 TPD. The solid waste compost processing was established and in operation near to the old dumpsite yard. The management of solid waste is being carried out through M/s Green Trust, Chennai.Solid waste authorization was obtained by the MinjurTown Panchayat from TNPCB, which is valid upto 30.09.2020.  Minjur Town Panchayathas proposed to installan incinerator 5 MT/16hr to dispose the non-biodegradable solid waste under CSR fund by Marine Infrastructure Developer Pvt. Ltd., Kattupalli.

 Chicken waste generated from shops is being collected through private agency and taken for farms.

 Segregated waste is being collected from hospitals/clinics/nursing home and ensured that no biomedical waste is mixed with domestic waste. BMW from households are collected separately and disposed to CBMWTF.

 Construction & Demolition waste is being utilized by generator as well as for landfilling.

 Drinking water collection sump/tank was constructed during 1992, which is near to the solid waste processing & old dumpsite.No drinking water supply bore well is available near to this location.

 Minjur Town Panchayathas submitted a proposal to Government for bio-mining of legacy waste at old dumped waste. It was informed that the bio mining for lesser quantity of legacy waste is economically not feasible and the quantity of legacy waste dumped in the site is approximately 120 cu. m.

EE, WRD-PWD, Araniyar Division, TiruvallurDistrict presented the following before the Committee;

 The river Kosasthaliyar is a seasonal carrier of water only during monsoon seasons  The jurisdiction of Kosasthalaiyarriver is confined with 5 km above and below of VallurAnicut to the Araniyar Basin Division, which is near to the Minjur Town Panchayat.  There are no dwelling colonies nearby and all the inhabitant areas are far away at a distance of more than 500 m from the bank of the river.

 Other than the solid waste management facility and the dumping yard of MSW, there are no visible encroachments by any private person in this area. If the survey officials furnish details of encroachments after making a survey and detection of encroachment in the river or along the WRD land abutting the river, the same would be evicted under the due process of law.

 The solid waste processing facility and dump yard is in the flood plain.

 Minjur Town Panchayat has not obtained NOC from PWD.

At the end of presentation, the Committee discussed about the further work to be carried out as per scope in detail. It is decided to make onsite visit, collect water samples in and around MSW processing facility site and old dump yard to ascertain the ground water quality. Due to current COVID 19 pandemic situation, restriction of travel by governments on interstate movement and quarantine, the Committee Member fromCPCB, Bengaluru could not able to participate to carry out monitoring/sampling. So it is decided to carry out the onsite field visit and collection of ground water samples after situation gets normalcy.

3. Suggestion:

After deliberate discussions, the following measures are suggested by the Committee;

1) Minjur Town Panchayatin coordination with District Administration shall identify an alternate land for handling and treatment (processing & incineration) of municipal solid waste as per SWM Rules, 2016.

2) As it is informed that bio mining of old dumped waste is not technically viable,Minjur Town Panchayat shall take necessary steps to dispose the waste through incineration (planned to install) or any other suitable method to remove the old dumped waste from flood plain zone.

3) WRD-PWD shall issue necessary notice to Minjur Town Panchayat to remove the existing facility and ensure no further dumping of MSW by the Town Panchayat.

4) WRD-PWD shall earmark their land and flood plain zone 5 km upstream and downstream from the dump yard sitealong the river before the Committee visit and ensure no encroachments within the river boundary.

4. Submission for extension of time It is to inform CPCB RD Chennai office is functioning from Bengaluru due to pandemic situation. Since the committee member is outside of Tamil Nadu state and Moreover, Government of Tamil Nadu & Karnataka has restricted interstate travel and enforced quarantine for travellers,so the committee decided to carry out field work after normalcy resumes, so the committee decided to carry out field work after normalcy resumes.

In view of the above, it is kindly requested the Hon'ble Tribunal for extending six weeks time after resuming normal situation and public transport to submit the final report in completion of onsite visit andwater quality assessment by the committee. The committee wanted two months time to submit the report.

4. In the mean time, the Minjur Town Panchayat is also directed to submit the status report regarding the implementation of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 in their area and also whether they have complied with the suggestions given by the committee.

5. The Public Works Department & Water Resources Organisation is also directed to comply with the suggestions given by the committee and submit a report before the next hearing date.

6. The committee as well as official respondents are directed to submit further report as well as action taken report in respect of the suggestions given on or before 4.11.2020 through e-mail at [email protected].

7. Registry is directed to communicate this order to the committee members as well as official respondents through e-mail immediately so as to enable them to comply with the direction.

For consideration of report, post on 4.11.2020.

....................................J.M. (Justice K. Ramakrishnan) .......................................E.M. (Sri.Saibal Dasgupta) O.A. No.64/2020 20.8. 2020-kkr 6

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