[ad_1]
The site of Jain Coral Cove, one of the four apartments in Maradu that were demolished on a Supreme Court order following violation of Coastal Regulation Zone norms.
| Photo Credit: H. VIBHU
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has rejected a report of the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) which said that the contractor engaged for the removal of debris from the site of demolition of the four apartment complexes at Maradu need not be levied any environment compensation as there were no lapses in the work assigned to the agency.
The Chief Environmental Engineer of the board in Ernakulam had submitted the report on November 8, 2022 saying that the environment compensation calculated as per the formula prescribed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) was nil. The apartments were demolished in January 2020 on a Supreme Court directive for violation of Coastal Regulation Zone norms.
In its order dated February 16, the Southern Bench of the tribunal comprising Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and expert member Dr. Satyagopal Korlapati pointed out that there must be some mistake in the calculation for arriving at the environmental compensation payable. “Therefore, we direct the State Pollution Control Board to work out the environmental compensation as there could not be any change in the formula,” it said.
The report said the total quantity of demolition debris was 69,600 tonnes. The total quantity of waste disposed of by the service provider was also 69,600 tonnes. The value of waste generation minus waste disposed was zero and hence environment compensation calculated as per the formula of the CPCB was nil, it said.
The tribunal, which took suo moto notice of media reports on lapses in waste disposal, had asked the PCB to assess the environmental compensation for shortcomings noticed in debris removal as per the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. The board’s report had said that the only shortcoming noticed was that the Maradu municipality had not submitted any prior action plan for removal of debris.
[ad_2]
Source link
