File photo of firefighters spraying water to douse smoke at the Brahmapuram wastewater treatment plant in Kochi. , Photo Credit: Tulsi Kakkat
The Principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal has imposed an environment compensation of ₹100 crore on the Kochi Corporation for continued dereliction of its duties, resulting in Crisis at its dump site in Brahmapuram After the big fire on 2 March.
A division bench headed by Chairperson Adarsh Kumar Goel passed an order directing the civic body to deposit the money with the chief secretary within a month for necessary remedial measures and to address the health issues of people breathing toxic fumes from the dump site. instructed.
In addition to the above, we direct the Chief Secretary, Kerala to fix accountability of the concerned officers for such egregious failures and initiate action by following due process under criminal law as well as through departmental proceedings and Put it in the public domain within two months. , it said.
Taking suo moto cognizance, the bench issued this order Hindu report title”A suffocating fire broke out in a garbage dump in Kochi; Government. asks people to stay indoorsPublished March 6.
In a stern order, the Bench observed that the State of Kerala and its authorities have completely failed and openly violated the statutory Solid Waste Management Rules and orders of the Supreme Court in Writ Petition No. 888/1996, Almitra H. Patel Vs. Union of India and others. and various orders of the Tribunal since December 2016.
No accountability has been fixed for such a serious failure and no senior person has been held accountable so far. Apart from giving future plans, there is still no proposal to fix accountability, which is a matter of regret. No prosecution has been conducted against the culprits for criminal offenses under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and also under the relevant provisions of the IPC and proceedings for violation of the orders of the Supreme Court and the proceedings transferred to the Tribunal There have been repeated orders of this Tribunal in by the Supreme Court. Such an attitude of the state authorities is a threat to the rule of law. We are hopeful that the situation will improve at the higher level in the state.
The bench asked the state police chief and chief secretary to uphold the mandate of the Constitution and environmental law.